Our Lady of Mercy

Marian dedication of Caeté (Minas Gerais)

La devoción a Our Lady of Mercy in the Serra da Piedade, in Caeté (Minas Gerais, Brazil), is linked to an ancient local tradition according to which a deaf girl would have received an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the top of the saw and, after that, recovered the speech and the ear; from that fact, Antonio da Silva Bracarena I would have decided to lift a chapel on the spot. This version belongs to the field of Pious tradition and should not be presented as a documented data.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Mercy in the Serra da Piedade, in Caeté (Minas Gerais, Brazil), is linked to an ancient local tradition according to which a deaf girl would have received an apparition of the Virgin Mary on the top of the saw and, after that, recovered the speech and the ear; from that fact, Antonio da Silva Bracarena I would have decided to lift a chapel on the spot. This version belongs to the field of Pious tradition and should not be presented as a documented data.

La documented history places the origin of the sanctuary in 1767when the construction of the Hermitage of Our Lady of Mercy Serra da Piedade. Over time, the place was consolidated as a pilgrimage centre of the mining baroque and was closely associated with the religious identity of Minas Gerais.

The image and the sanctuary

In the Serra da Piedade a Baroque image of type Pietà o Mercy, that is, the Virgin Mary with Christ dead in her arms, classical iconography of Mary's maternal compassion. The image was sculpted by “Aleijadinho” (Antônio Francisco Lisboa), according to information on the sanctuary.

The whole of the Serra da Piedade includes the Ermite of Our Lady of Mercy y la State Basilica Our Lady of Mercy – Patrona de Minas Gerais, denominations that reflect their character as a sanctuary of strong regional importance. The consulted source also presents it as "basilica sanctuary" in Caeté, in the state of Minas Gerais.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of Mercy was recognized in 1960 how patrona del Estado de Minas Gerais by decree of the Pope Juan XXIII.

No consta una documented canonical coronation in the sources consulted.

Party and devotion

La main party se celebra el 15 September. The sanctuary is a remarkable pilgrimage center for the faithful of Minas Gerais, especially for its character as a state sanctuary and for the ancient devotional tradition linked to the saw.

Popular devotion is expressed in visits, romanies and liturgical celebrations around the image of the Piety, with a strong identity resonance in the religious mining. The sources consulted do not provide reliable data on annual flow figures, so that data no consta.

Link to the Rosary

There is no specific and exclusive historical link between this advocation and a particular rosarian fellowship or practice in the sources consulted. However, for its iconography of Mercy and his contemplation of Christ's redeeming pain with Mary, this devotion is naturally harmonized with the Rosarywhich leads to meditating the mysteries of Christ's life with the eyes and heart of the Virgin.