marian feasts     august

Penultimate Sunday in August

Nossa Senhora do Amparo, Felgar, Torre de Moncorvo, Bragança, Norte, Portugal

On the high seas between Brazil and his home in Portugal, Commander Francisco António Pires (d. 1901) encountered a terrifying storm, vowing to build a chapel to Our Lady of Support if he survived. That was the origin of the shrine in northeastern Portugal where a commemorative festa takes place on the next-to-last Sunday of August. Festivities begin on Thursday with a series of band concerts. Sunrise on Sunday is greeted with a mortar salute. A variety of bands accompany every activity: the procession from the Sanctuary of Nossa Senhora do Amparo to the town church; solemn mass; the Majestic Procession back to the sanctuary with Our Lady's statue; the return to town; Grand Fireworks at 1 am, and music until dawn. (Information from Nossa Senhora do Amparo - Felgar, www.nsamparo-felgar.blogspot.com and António Cristino, "Nossa Senhora do Amparo - Felgar," blog posting Aug. 6, 2009, À Descoberta de Torre de Moncorvo, descobrirmoncorvo.blogspot.com. Picture (detail) from "Festas de Nossa Senhora do Amparo - Felgar," posting Aug. 23, 2010, TORRE.moncorvo, torre-moncorvo.blogspot.com.

Also commemorated this day:

Notre-Dame d'Arigbo, Dassa-Zoumé, Collines, Benin. Closing mass of three-day pilgrimage.
Notre-Dame-des-Portes, Châteauneuf-du-Faou, Finistère, Brittany, France (Our Lady of the Gates). Pardon.
Maria Santissima della Pietra, Chiaravalle Centrale, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy (Most Holy Mary of the Stone). Festa, outdoor mass at shrine.
Madonna delle Timpe, Scigliano, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy, Diano district (Madonna of the Cliffs). Festa: statue processes from shrine to town church and back.
 

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly