Our Lady of the Relief

The Mother who brings relief · Green Vila (Braga)

In Southello, in the middle of Minho, the shrine of Nossa Senhora do Alívio welcomes every September a multitude of rosemary people who go up to ask for or thank the "relief" in the disease and in the sorrows of life.

Origin and history

The sanctuary was founded around 1798 by the local parish priest, Father Xavier Frágoas, in action of thanks to the Virgin for the healing of a serious disease she suffered. From that fact of gratitude was born the invocation of "Nossa Senhora do Alívio," which relieves in tribulation. They are not apparitions, but that source of healing and gratitude.

To host the growing number of pilgrims, the sanctuary was extended throughout the 19th century - with an expansion documented in 1872 - and the church acquired its current neo-Gothic fisonomy. The archdiocese of Braga presents it as the most important sanctuary of the caripradurade of Vila Verde, with a house of pilgrims and ample spaces for the Romeries.