Onze Lieve Vrouw van Aparecida

Beschermheilige van Brazilië

Onze Lieve Vrouw van Aparecida, of Onze Lieve Vrouw van de Onbevlekte Ontvangenis Aparecida, is de Mariaverering die de patrones van Brazilië is. Haar kleine terracotta beeldje, gevonden in de rivier de Paraíba in 1717, wordt tegenwoordig vereerd in het heiligdom van Aparecida in de staat São Paulo, een van de grootste Mariakerken ter wereld. Haar feestdag wordt gevierd op 12 oktober.

Kernfeiten

Central message: in a small image, broken and rescued from the waters by simple men, God showed his predilection for the lowly, making Aparecida the Mother of an entire people.

Traditie en geschiedenis: een noodzakelijk onderscheid

Rond Aparecida bestaan twee niveaus naast elkaar die niet met elkaar verward mogen worden.

Tradition recounts that, after these men gathered up the image, their catch, until then meagre, became so abundant that it could scarcely fit in their boats, and that many favours were obtained by those who prayed before her. These are venerable accounts of Brazilian popular piety, which the source records as such and which ought not to be presented as documented facts.

Documented history, on the other hand, rests on two preserved sources —in the archive of the Metropolitan Curia of Aparecida and in the Roman Archive of the Society of Jesus— and attests to the finding of the image in 1717, the construction of the successive churches, the coronation of 1904 and the proclamation of the patronage. Devotion to Aparecida, real and verifiable, does not depend on the legendary details, but on the continued growth of a cult.

Geschiedenis van het heiligdom

De vondst in de rivier (1717)

According to the documentation, around 1717 the Count of Assumar, Dom Pedro de Almeida e Portugal, governor of São Paulo and the Gold Mines, was to pass through the village of Guaratinguetá on his way to Vila Rica. To honour him, three fishermen —Domingos Garcia, Felipe Pedroso and João Alves— cast their nets into the Paraíba do Sul River. After many fruitless attempts, on 12 October, at Porto Itaguaçu, they first drew up the body of a headless image of Our Lady of the Conception and, in a further cast, the head. The image, of terracotta, measured only about 36 cm.

It is not known how the image came to be in the river, but its author is known: the São Paulo monk Frei Agostinho de Jesus, who modelled it around 1650.

Van het vissershuisje naar de basiliek

One of the fishermen took the image to his house, where he made a small altar for it. For some fifteen years it remained in the home of Felipe Pedroso, a place of prayer for the neighbours. Devotion kept growing and a chapel was built, soon too small. On 5 May 1743 a church was begun, inaugurated on 26 July 1745. In 1834 the construction of a great church began, the old Basilica of Our Lady Aparecida, in the face of the continual increase of the faithful.

Kroning en beschermheerschap

The image was solemnly crowned in 1904 by Dom José de Camargo Barros, bishop of São Paulo, with a crown offered years earlier by Princess Isabel, in the presence of the Apostolic Nuncio and the President of the Republic. On 16 July 1930, Pope Pius XI declared Our Lady Aparecida patroness of Brazil. On 4 July 1980, Saint John Paul II visited the shrine, consecrated it, and granted it the title of basilica. Today the shrine of Aparecida is one of the largest Marian churches in the world and the destination of millions of pilgrims.

Het beeld en zijn wisselvalligheden

Het beeld, gemaakt van terracotta en ongeveer 36 cm groot, werd uit de rivier getrokken en was oorspronkelijk polychroom beschilderd. De bruine of kaneelkleurige tint die het nu heeft, is waarschijnlijk te danken aan de blootstelling aan de rook van de kaarsen van de gelovigen. In 1978, na een aanval waarbij het beeld tot bijna tweehonderd fragmenten werd gereduceerd, werd het volledig gerestaureerd door de kunstenares Maria Helena Chartuni.

De spirituele boodschap van Aparecida

De devotie tot Onze Lieve Vrouw van Aparecida spreekt ons ook vandaag de dag nog aan met haar eenvoud:

🎣 Mary draws near to the little ones. She did not come on a throne, but in the nets of some poor fishermen.
🌊 Out of what is broken, God makes a home. A shattered image rescued from the water became the heart of an entire people.
🇧🇷 Mary is Mother of a whole nation. Under her protection, Brazil acknowledges its patroness and guide.
✝️ Mary always leads to the Son. With her hands in prayer upon her breast, she teaches us to turn the heart to God.

Gebed tot Onze Lieve Vrouw van Aparecida

A sober Marian prayer, gathered in our section of Maria-gebeden.