Our Lady of Aparecida (Nossa Senhora Aparecida) is a
celebrated 18th-century clay statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the
traditional form associated with the Immaculate Conception. The image 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 of Aparecida in Aparecida, São Paulo, Brazil.
Colonial documents and papal bulls have referred to the
image as Nossa Senhora da Conçeicão Aparecida. The feast day of Our Lady of
Aparecida is on 12 October, which since 1980 is also a public holiday in
Brazil. The building in which it is venerated was granted the title of 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 a Protestant minister insulted and
vandalized a copy of the statue on Brazilian national television.
Source: Wikipedia
This postcard came from Father João Paulo Veloso of Brazil (June 2015)
Postcrossing. Snails have badly eaten
most of the information on the reverse of the postcard.
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