Our Lady of Aparecida

Our Lady of Aparecida Portuguese: Nossa Senhora Aparecida or Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida) is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the Immaculate Conception. Her image, a dark 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 foll

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