On August 22-31, 2025, the Provincial Custody of St. Bonaventure in Brazil (Maranhão) conducted nine evening celebrations to honor of the Glorious Infant Jesus of Prague, patron of the chapel of the Menino Jesus de Praga Friary and Custodial Curia, which is located in São Luís do Maranhão, Brazil.
The theme of this year’s program was “The Infant Jesus of Prague Is the Hope That Teaches Us to Care for Our Common Home.” Postulants, professed friars and members of the friary community actively participated in the program, sharing fraternity with the wider community – the People of God. After each evening celebration, the faithful gathered outside the chapel to enjoy various cultural and artistic performances in honor of the Infant Jesus.
Most evenings, a friar-priest of the Custody presided over the Mass. However, on August 26, the Most Reverend Gilberto PASTANA DE OLIVEIRA Archbishop of São Luís, Brazil, presided. In his homily, he encouraged the whole community to continue following in the footsteps of our Lord. He thanked the friars for their presence in the archdiocese and urged them to persevere in their mission of evangelization. At the end of the Mass, the Provincial Custos, Friar Roberto HONORATO OLIVEIRA DOS REMÉDIOS, thanked the archbishop and, as a symbolic gesture, renewed his vow of obedience to him―a gesture the archbishop gratefully accepted as a sign of communion between the Custody and the Archdiocese of São Luís.
The celebrations concluded on August 30, with a procession through the streets of the neighborhood surrounding the friary chapel. The final event was an outdoor Mass presided over by the Provincial Custos and attended by about three thousand faithful devotees of the Infant Jesus of Prague. Those concelebrating included the Guardian of the Menino Jesus de Praga Friary, and Pastor of its chapel, Friar Raimundo Nonato MOREIRA DA SILVA; together with Friars Francisco CONCEIÇAO RIBEIRO and Rudolf Cristhian RIQUELME ACOSTA, the Rector of the postulancy program. In his homily, the Custos encouraged the People of God, reminding them that hope calls us to be pilgrims journeying toward truth—dreamers who never tire, men and women moved by God’s dream: the dream of a new world where peace and justice reign. He urged the faithful not to remain still or to give in to discouragement and pessimism, like those lost in the darkness trying to dominate the world today. On the contrary, we are to walk eagerly as Pilgrims of Hope in the light and peace of the Lord.
The entire community came together to make this celebration possible. Various groups and lay persons worked in a truly fraternal and synodal way, with a sense of belonging, aware that they were contributing to the formation of the future friars of the Custody.
Friar Roberto HONORATO OLIVEIRA DOS REMÉDIOS
