October 13, 2022

10:10

Karol Rocha – AMAZON AGENCY

MANAUS – Thousands of devotees celebrate on Wednesday, October 12, the Day of Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness saint of Brazil, in Manaus. The festivities began early in the morning in the Parish Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, south of Manaus, and will continue until the end of the afternoon with the traditional procession through the streets of the capital of Amazonas, followed by a solemn mass presided by the auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of Manaus, Dom José Albuquerque.

Accompanied by her 10 year old daughter, the realtor, Débora Andrade, 41, is a devotee of Nossa Senhora Aparecida and together they made their requests, prayers and thanksgiving to the saint. Like thousands of faithful, Débora has a special story of devotion to the patron saint of Brazil.

“The devotion is for my daughter. I had a treatment for five years and I asked her a lot to give me a girl, and she was born on December 8, the day of Our Lady of Conception. And I was very happy to God, to Our Lady of Aparecida, and today I owe everything to her, she is a reference in my life”, said Débora.

The administrator Olga Guimarães, 35, had a dream of buying her own house. The request, according to her, was blessed by the saint. Emotional, she thanks the patron saint. “I went through three situations in which I couldn’t realize the dream of my house and, with a lot of faith, I asked and she took charge of everything and I realized my dream of conquering my house”, reported the administrator.

The saleswoman Patrícia Amâncio da Silva, 39, has a 21 year old daughter, and her promise was the return of her daughter to Manaus. “My daughter was far away, I asked her to return before October 12 and she [the saint] interceded. My daughter was living in Pará and had left no news. Today, she is here with me”, said the saleswoman.

Patroness of Brazil

The image of the Patroness of Brazil was found in 1717 by fishermen Domingos Garcia, Filipe Pedroso and João Alves, in the waters of the Paraíba River, near Porto de Itaguaçu, in the village of Guaratinguetá, in São Paulo. The three had not fished for days and were on a mission to bring fish to the reception party for the famous Count of Assumar, Dom Pedro de Almeida, ruler of the captaincy of the city of São Paulo and of Minas de Ouro at the time, who was passing through the city.

Hopeful, they said a prayer asking the Mother of God’s help so that they would return full of fish for the feast. When they were about to give up fishing, João Alves threw the net again and caught a part of the body of the dark image of Our Lady of Aparecida. Emotional, he threw the net a second time and managed to catch the head of the image. Then came the miracle. The nets filled up with fish, which made them worry about the danger of the boat capsizing and losing all the fish caught.

“Our Lady became the patron saint of Brazil precisely because of the reality of our country. We know that in the year 1717, she was found in the Paraíba River, in São Paulo, by three fishermen, facing a difficult reality, in which fishing was not the best. With faith, besides catching the image, those fishermen had a great surprise because they also got a miraculous catch”, reminded the rector of the Our Lady Aparecida Sanctuary Parish, South Zone of Manaus, Father Agildo Alves.

According to him, the black skin of the miraculous saint is loaded with history and meanings, which is why she is the patron saint of Brazil. “Our Lady comes with dark skin precisely to remind us that she is in solidarity with the reality of those people, just as, today, she is in solidarity with the realities of the Brazilian people who still suffer so much. We know the challenges we face and, at the same time, we ask her for her help and her intercession to help us in these very difficult times”, he highlighted.

Feast of Aparecida

The Feast of the Patroness Saint of Brazil 2022, in Manaus, will be marked by the return of the traditional procession through the streets of the Center of the capital, after two years suspended due to the Covid-19 virus pandemic. The estimate is that more than 80 thousand people will participate in the procession that begins at 5 pm this October 12.

The theme of the program is synodality: “With Mary, walk together to build a missionary church”. According to the pastor, the theme chosen for this year’s feast of the patron saint of Our Lady of Aparecida highlights the importance of synodality for the Catholic church and its faithful, based on the reflection proposed by Pope Francis.

“The theme has everything to do with the aspect of synodality, walking together is to understand that no one is left aside, no one is left behind, everyone follows with the same objective, hand in hand, with common direction and goals. To walk together is to understand that we are brothers, regardless of religion or creed. The important thing is that we follow in the direction of Christ. He is the reference and Our Lady always points us to him”, affirmed Father Agildo Alves.

Schedule

On this day, the 12th, Day of the Patroness Saint of Brazil, the celebrations began at 5:30 with a festive procession with the image of the Saint through the streets of the Downtown and Aparecida neighborhood and a blessing of the vehicles, followed by a shared breakfast at 7:00. At 8am the devotees of Our Lady of Aparecida were invited to follow the Campal Mass of Aparecida, presided by the Metropolitan Archbishop of Manaus, Dom Leonardo Steiner, Cardinal of the Amazon. At 10am, the Mass with the Children was scheduled.

In the afternoon, the program includes the Eucharistic Celebration at noon, with the theme “Synodality”; at 2 pm, a Marian Rosary; at 3 pm, the Office of Our Lady and at 4 pm, animation. The program ends at 5 pm with the return of the traditional procession of Our Lady of Aparecida through the streets of the Aparecida neighborhood and Manaus downtown, and the solemn mass of Aparecida, at 6 pm, presided by Bishop José Albuquerque, auxiliary bishop of the Manaus Archdiocese.

The procession with the image of Nossa Senhora Aparecida will also go through the streets of the neighborhood Aparecida and Center: leaving the church, located on Alexandre Amorim street, following the streets 10 de Julho and Ferreira Pena, then Leonardo Malcher avenue, streets Luís Antony, Ramos Ferreira, Wilkens de Matos, Alexandre Amorim, stopping at Coronel Salgado, street where the stage will be for the celebration of mass.

On the 15th, the devotees will have a great festival, with sales of typical foods and cultural attractions, where the Super Bingão will also be raffled, at 9pm.

Besides the personalized t-shirts, sold for R$30.00, the devotees can buy the Super Bingão for R$15.00, at the shrine’s secretariat and in a tent located outside the church, to compete for 12 (twelve) prizes that will be drawn on the date. The goal of the sales is to raise funds to pay for the festivities and help the social work of the church, which is located on Alexandre Amorim Street, No. 341, Aparecida, South Zone of Manaus.