Catholic Fire

July 23, 2013. (Romereports.com) Every day, hundreds of buses with thousands of pilgrims flock to a very special Brazilian known as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida. With over 11 million visits per year, it is one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world. In fact, it welcomes much more pilgrims than other famous sites like that of Lourdes and Fatima. On arrival, many pilgrims light a candle, to thank Our Lady for the graces they've received. Others spend hours praying in this room suited for over 70,000 people. In it, some leave personal items like letters and pictures to thank Our Lady or to make a special prayer. Our Lady of Aparecida is the patroness of Brazil, and devotion to Her statue dates back to 1717. According to tradition, in October of that year, two fishermen prayed to Our Lady, asking Her to grant them a good catch for the day. As they dragged up their nets, they found this small clay statue of Our Lady and many fishes. The name “Aparecida” comes...

History of the Devotion On a certain day in 1716 three fishermen were at work on the Paraiba River. There were no fish in the nets they lifted from the water. Instead there was an artistic terracotta image of Our Lady of the Conception, which they dubbed "Nossa Señnora Aparecida". The chronicles relate that once the Virgin was placed in the boat, the catch was so great that the frightened men returned to port because, the weight of the fish threatened to sink their craft. It is not known how the small (less than three feet high) statue came to rest at the bottom of the river, but its artist is known, Frei Agostino de Jesus, a "carioca'' monk from Sao Paulo who created artistic clay sculptures. The image was made around 1650 and must have stayed submerged in the river for many years because it lost its original polychromy. The image is now a brilliant dark brown color, and is covered by a stiff mantle of richly embroidered thick cloth, allowing only her face a...