On November 13, 2021, The friars of the Provincial Custody of the Immaculate Conception of the B.V.M. in Brazil, (belonging to the Province of Our Lady of the Angels in USA), went on the Custody’s fourth pilgrimage to the National Shrine of Our Lady of Aparecida, in Aparecida, São Paulo State, Brazil. This pilgrimage commemorated the Custody’s 75th anniversary of presence in Brazil. The friars participated in small groups due to the pandemic.
The Diamond Jubilee marked seventy-five years of the Custody’s consecration and mission, guided by the charism of our Seraphic Father St. Francis of Assisi. It took place in the National Marian Shrine in Aparecida, the home of Mary and the people of Mary. The event concluded with a simple and solemn Mass celebrated before the Shrine’s small image of the Immaculate Conception. The image is the namesake of our first Conventual Franciscan Custody in Brazil. Devout and faithful people affectionately call the image “Aparecida,” or “Mother Aparecida.”
The friars thanked Mary and asked for her loving intercession. Moreover, they asked her to be constantly present in their journey of faith, to show them new paths and to help them in the important work of bringing about the Kingdom of her Son, the Christ of God. The friars prayed for all of the confreres: those present, those absent and those who died. In particular, they prayed for Bishop Friar Elias James MANNING, who died on October 13, 2019. He had always attended previous pilgrimages. They also prayed for Friar José Luiz MAGALHÃES, the Custody’s only victim of Covid-19, who died on March 13, 2021.
At the end of the Mass, the Provincial Custos, Friar Ronaldo GOMES DA SILVA, prayed before the Shrine’s image of Our Lady and entrusted to Mary all the faithful under the care of our Franciscan fraternity in the cities of Rio de Janeiro, Araruama, Petrópolis and Paraíba do Sul, in the districts of Rio Comprido and Costa Barros, and in the cities of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, Juiz de Fora and Andrelândia. The Custos also prayed that the Custody might grow in vocations and increase its desire to continue the mission.
We praise God for the fraternal and missionary life of the friars on the Custody’s 75th anniversary of presence.
Friar Carlos Roberto DE OLIVEIRA CHARLES, Custodial Secretary
