October 12 Feast Day of Our Lady of Aparecida
HISTORY OF OUR LADY OF APARECIDA
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The devotion to Our Lady of the Conception Aparecida, more commonly known as “Our Lady of Aparecida”, has a very special meaning. It came about when a group of fishermen, after several useless attempts, asked the intercession of Our Lady, but instead of a fish, they caught a small image of Our Lady of the Conception Aparecida made of terracota. The title of “Aparecida” derives from the verb “appear” since it was in a moment of great need that the fishermen found her they realized that this event indicated a sign of intercession of the Virgin. The image had a dark color and was blackened because of the type of material it was made from and from having been lost in the river.
THE PRAYER THAT POPE FRANCIS PRAYED IN PRIVATE BEFORE THE IMAGE OF OUR LADY OF APARECIDA
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“Mother Aparecida, just as you one day, today I feel,
before you and before my God,
He proposes for our life a mission whose outline and limitations are unknown,
with demands we can barely glimpse. But in our faith that for God nothing is impossible, you, Mother, did not doubt and I cannot doubt either.
“Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.”,
In the same way Mother, as you, I embrace my mission,
I place my life in your hands, so that we may go, you Mother and your Son,
To walk together, to grow together, to struggle together, to conquer as always together;
Journeying, you and your Son.