Location: Aparecida 🌎

Our Lady of Aparecida – Our Lady Revealed – (Portuguese: Nossa Senhora Aparecida or Portuguese: Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida [ˈnɔsɐ siˈɲɔɾɐ dɐ kõsejˈsɐ̃w ɐpɐɾeˈsidɐ]) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Immaculate Conception. Her image, a clay statue, is widely venerated by Brazilian Catholics, who consider her as the principal patroness of Brazil. Historical accounts state that the statue was originally found by three fishermen who miraculously caught many fish after invoking the Blessed Virgin Mary. The statue is currently housed in the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady Aparecida in Aparecida, São Paulo, Brazil. Colonial documents and papal bulls have referred to the image as Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida. The feast day of Our Lady Aparecida in the Roman Rite is on October 12, which is also a public holiday in Brazil since 1980. The building in which the image is venerated was granted the title of a minor basilica by Pope John Paul II in 1980, and is the largest Marian shrine in the world, being able to hold up to 45,000 worshippers.Controversy about the statue was ignited in May 1978 by an intruder who stole the clay statue, which was smashed as he was apprehended, from its shrine, and again in 1995, when an evangelical minister insulted and vandalized a copy of the statue on Brazilian national television, specifically on Rede Record, in what became known as the Chute na santa incident. The following papal documents concern the famed statue: Pope Leo XIII mentioned the Brazilian devotion in 1903. Pope Pius X granted a canonical coronation to the image on 8 December 1904. Pope Pius XI declared Mary under this title Patroness of Brazil through a papal bull of 16 July 1930, signed by Cardinal Eugenio Pacelli. Pope Paul VI granted the image her first golden rose on 12 August 1967. Pope John Paul II consecrated her new shrine and on the same date raised it to the rank of minor basilica on 4 July 1980 Pope Benedict XVI granted the image her second golden rose on 12 May 2007. Pope Francis granted the third golden rose on 9 October 2017, honoring the 300th anniversary of the devotion.