Basilica of Our Lady of Aparecida

In 1717 three fishermen on the Paraíba River, casting their nets without success, drew up the body and then the head of a small, dark clay statue of the Immaculate Conception. After that, their nets were so full they could hardly haul them in. The little statue, Nossa Senhora da Conceição Aparecida, “Our Lady who appeared,” became the most beloved image in Brazil. In 1930 Pope Pius XI named her patroness of the country.

The vast brick basilica that now houses the image was begun in 1955 and consecrated by Pope Saint John Paul II in 1980. It is shaped like a Greek cross, holds some 45,000 people, and is the largest church in the world dedicated to Our Lady. More than ten million pilgrims come each year, especially on her feast, 12 October, a national holiday in Brazil.

Pope Benedict XVI opened the general conference of the bishops of Latin America here in 2007, and Pope Francis made a pilgrimage here in 2013.

Built

1955–1980

Style

Neo-Romanesque; modern

Where

Aparecida, São Paulo, Brazil

Map

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