The experience of encountering the image of Our Lady of Aparecida is a privileged moment of Brazilian Marian spirituality. Our Lady of Aparecida, the patroness of Brazil, encountered fishermen in 1717 through the miraculous image from the River Paraíba. This experience of encountering Our Lady of Aparecida has become a national devotion and official Marian worship. The small image of Our Lady of Aparecida, found in the waters of the River Paraíba, symbolizes Mary’s spiritual motherhood for the Brazilian people.
The Encounter with Mary: The Experience of the Image of Aparecida
… (rest of the content remains the same, with no further changes) …Mariology, beyond being an interdisciplinary thought about Mary in Revelation and its influences on dogmatic and liturgical thought, also focuses on the ‘Marian phenomenon’. Certainly apparitions are the most well-known, but there are other terms that generally denote Mary’s presence: mariofanias and visions.Beyond these terms, within the ‘Marian phenomenon’, there is a well-documented event originating from various shrines, known as inventio. The translation of this term is not ‘invention’ but rather ‘discovery’. The experience of encountering the Aparecida image is then a discovery, given its particularities. Without intending to refer to the well-known history of Aparecida, I would like to place the importance of a discovery in a Marian theological perspective.This term originates from Alexander of Cipre (d. 565), who wrote the work *Inventio Crucis*, which deals with the discovery of Christ’s Cross. It is a work that praises the cross, recapitulating the history of creation, religion, and practically the world up to the time of Constantine, offering a view of the Incarnation and the Trinity focused on the Cross.To find this term applied to the Marian question, it is Theodore Sincletus in the 7th century who wrote *Inventio et depositio vestis in Blacternis*, which discusses the discovery of the robes of the *Theotokos* (Mother of God) and their translation from Jerusalem to the Church of Blacternis, formerly Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey.From these two historical elements, the cross and the robes, we can see how structurally it indicates a hidden reality, which is revealed by divine Providence to the human eye and is offered freely, either naturally or supernaturally. In fact, there are no accounts of a search for images of Mary, but rather an impromptu encounter with an image. From a mariological perspective, it is the invisible God who is conceived through means in which Mary is an exceptional presence.Allowing me to skip across centuries, I would like to conclude by stating that anyone who seeks God in our current time, reflected in our ecclesial sensitivity, should allow themselves to be touched and perhaps pierced by the *Holy Spirit*. Only He can make concrete, fertile, and stable the everyday life of faith. This was the historical experience of Mary of Nazareth. At the same time, just as Mary, we continually seek the great gift of the Holy Spirit, which is Christ. We seek it and learn where to find it. In the Latin tradition, Mary is known as *inventrix gratiae*, that is, from the verb *invenire*, which we translate as both “encounter” and “precise search.” A search with a clear objective: the radicality with which the Holy Spirit ‘flooded’ the *Servant of the Lord*. A prefiguration of every faithful who, approaching the Mother of God, approaches the Spirit and Jesus Christ to be led to the Father.Allow me to conclude our journey with the words of Saint Bernard: *”Through you, we have access to the Son, blessed inventor of grace, mother of life, mother of salvation: so that through you, we may be received by Him who for us was given through you”* (*De Adventu Domini*, serm. 2, n. 5). The sense of *inventio* of Aparecida may find its reason for being in this formula.To deepen the meaning of images and Marian cult, consult the Apostolic Exhortation *Marialis Cultus* by Paul VI, on the renewal of Marian devotion in the Christian life.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Graduate Program in Mariology.
Do you want to deepen your formation in Mariology? Get to know the Graduate Program in Mariology from Locus Mariologicus – an academic formation that combines theological rigor, spiritual life, and the living tradition of the Church.
See the complete list of recognized Marian apparitions by the Church.Do you want to study mariology seriously?This article arises from the works in the Locus Mariologicus library. The Postgraduate in Mariology takes you to the same source, with academic guidance: Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, and the Magisterium, from the first dogma to contemporary issues.Learn more about the Postgraduate in Mariology here.
The records of Bamonte provide on this second fiat a testimony of exceptional accuracy. During an exorcism session on Holy Friday 2006, the demon, constrained…
In Mary’s face, we contemplate Christ’s face. A mariological meditation on the relationship between Mother and Son in Christian faith. Deepen this reflection.
Learn from Mary the art of the Trinitarian mystical prayer, according to John Paul II, and discover how Christian holiness is lived simply in daily life.
Mary, Servant of the Lord, illuminates the meaning of life, faith, and Christian mission in the world. She deepens the beauty of the Marian vocation to serve the baptized.
Explore Mary’s role in the life of the Church, as Mother and model of faith. A theological reflection on her presence in the Christian community. Let us delve deeper into this mystery.
Mariology, beyond being an interdisciplinary thought about Mary in Revelation and its influences on dogmatic and liturgical thought, also focuses on the ‘Marian phenomenon’. Certainly apparitions are the most well-known, but there are other terms that generally denote Mary’s presence: mariofanias and visions.Beyond these terms, within the ‘Marian phenomenon’, there is a well-documented event originating from various shrines, known as inventio. The translation of this term is not ‘invention’ but rather ‘discovery’. The experience of encountering the Aparecida image is then a discovery, given its particularities. Without intending to refer to the well-known history of Aparecida, I would like to place the importance of a discovery in a Marian theological perspective.
Mariology, beyond being an interdisciplinary thought about Mary in Revelation and its influences on dogmatic and liturgical thought, also focuses on the ‘Marian phenomenon’. Certainly apparitions are the most well-known, but there are other terms that generally denote Mary’s presence: mariofanias and visions.Beyond these terms, within the ‘Marian phenomenon’, there is a well-documented event originating from various shrines, known as inventio. The translation of this term is not ‘invention’ but rather ‘discovery’. The experience of encountering the Aparecida image is then a discovery, given its particularities. Without intending to refer to the well-known history of Aparecida, I would like to place the importance of a discovery in a Marian theological perspective.
This term originates from Alexander of Cipre (d. 565), who wrote the work *Inventio Crucis*, which deals with the discovery of Christ’s Cross. It is a work that praises the cross, recapitulating the history of creation, religion, and practically the world up to the time of Constantine, offering a view of the Incarnation and the Trinity focused on the Cross.To find this term applied to the Marian question, it is Theodore Sincletus in the 7th century who wrote *Inventio et depositio vestis in Blacternis*, which discusses the discovery of the robes of the *Theotokos* (Mother of God) and their translation from Jerusalem to the Church of Blacternis, formerly Constantinople, now Istanbul, Turkey.From these two historical elements, the cross and the robes, we can see how structurally it indicates a hidden reality, which is revealed by divine Providence to the human eye and is offered freely, either naturally or supernaturally. In fact, there are no accounts of a search for images of Mary, but rather an impromptu encounter with an image. From a mariological perspective, it is the invisible God who is conceived through means in which Mary is an exceptional presence.Allowing me to skip across centuries, I would like to conclude by stating that anyone who seeks God in our current time, reflected in our ecclesial sensitivity, should allow themselves to be touched and perhaps pierced by the *Holy Spirit*. Only He can make concrete, fertile, and stable the everyday life of faith. This was the historical experience of Mary of Nazareth. At the same time, just as Mary, we continually seek the great gift of the Holy Spirit, which is Christ. We seek it and learn where to find it. In the Latin tradition, Mary is known as *inventrix gratiae*, that is, from the verb *invenire*, which we translate as both “encounter” and “precise search.” A search with a clear objective: the radicality with which the Holy Spirit ‘flooded’ the *Servant of the Lord*. A prefiguration of every faithful who, approaching the Mother of God, approaches the Spirit and Jesus Christ to be led to the Father.Allow me to conclude our journey with the words of Saint Bernard: *”Through you, we have access to the Son, blessed inventor of grace, mother of life, mother of salvation: so that through you, we may be received by Him who for us was given through you”* (*De Adventu Domini*, serm. 2, n. 5). The sense of *inventio* of Aparecida may find its reason for being in this formula.To deepen the meaning of images and Marian cult, consult the Apostolic Exhortation *Marialis Cultus* by Paul VI, on the renewal of Marian devotion in the Christian life.Deepen your studies: explore Mariology, Marian theology, Marian apparitions, and the Graduate Program in Mariology.
Responses