In the lead-up to October 12, the day the Church celebrates the patron saint of Brazil, devotees received a treat. The first phase of a giant monument in honor of Our Lady of Aparecida was inaugurated in the city of Aparecida in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo The sculpture is made of steel, weighs 400 tons, and is 164 ft (50 m) high. This size puts the monument on the list of the largest religious images in Brazil and the world The statue cost an estimated 10 million Brazilian reais (nearly two million US dollars). It’s located in the Itaguaçu neighborhood, two miles from the National Shrine of Aparecida It will certainly become another tourist attraction in the city which receives millions of pilgrims and tourists every year Sculptor Gilmar Pinna designed the monument "We're still going to add a giant map of Brazil Each arm will be 19 meters (62 ft) long and the sculpture will be a total of 50 meters high and it will weigh 60 tons," said the sculptor Work on this second phase of the project is expected to take another year View on Instagram The statue in honor of Our Lady of Aparecida An association of atheists and agnostics succeeded in having work on the monument temporarily suspended The association claimed that the municipality could not invest public money to benefit just one religion the municipality was granted permission to resume work on the giant statue in 2022 View on Instagram Articles like these are sponsored free for every Catholic through the support of generous readers just like you Please make a tax-deductible donation today Help us continue to bring the Gospel to people everywhere through uplifting Catholic news which gave birth to the devotion to the Virgin of Aparecida the Brazilian people have always grown up in loyalty and filial love towards their Patroness three fishermen of the village of Guaratinguetá They then moved six kilometers to an area called Porto Itaguaçu João Alves's net was weighed down; on pulling the net he discovered a statuette with the semblance of Our Lady of Conception When the three fishermen again tossed their nets For about fifteen years the statue of Our Lady remained in the house of Felipe Pedroso; in 1733 who built a small chapel for the statuette in Itaguaçu but the flow of faithful forced them to build ever-larger churches is only slightly smaller than the Vatican basilica Pope Benedict XVI visited on a pilgrimage in May 2007 Pope Francis visited in 2013; on that occasion "how much joy it gives me to come to the home of the Mother of every Brazilian." was the location for a milestone in the recent life of the Latin American Church: the Fifth General Conference of the Episcopate of Latin America and the Caribbean Jorge Mario Bergoglio was the Coordinator of the Drafting of the Final Document Pope Francis recalled that on that occasion the presidents felt "encouraged inspired by the thousands of pilgrims who were daily entrusting their lives to Our Lady.. That Conference was a great time for the Church.. the document of Aparecida does not end in and of itself; the final opening is on and towards the mission." ANS - “Agenzia iNfo Salesiana” is a on-line almost daily publication the communication agency of the Salesian Congregation enrolled in the Press Register of the Tibunal of Rome as n 153/2007 This site also uses third-party cookies to improve user experience and for statistical purposes By scrolling through this page or by clicking on any of its elements with the participation of the provinces of SDB and FMA gathered at the National Shrine of "Nossa Senhora Aparecida" bless us." The pilgrimage began in Puerto Itaguaçu district where in 1717 the image of "Our Lady Aparecida" was found by fishermen The Eucharistic celebration was presided by Mons João Inácio Müller who in his homily congratulated the Salesian Family