300 years of Aparecida: historical approach. The context of apparition and popular devotion

Abstract

What response of faith is evident in this historical context of the meeting of the image of Aparecida? The place is the village of Guaratinguetá, in the Paraíba Valley, where a village was born around a chapel dedicated to Saint Antônio. The Count of Assumar, violent governor, acted as if in favor of the centralism of the Portuguese crown, wanted to maintain control over the wealth extracted from the land. Soon the condition in which the poor lived was sad and marked by suffering. It is in this context that the miraculous image of Aparecida is found by the "shermen, beginning a history of faith and hope.