OUR LADY OF THE CONCEPTION

Day 206: December 04

Our Lady of the Conception, Sameiro, Braga, Portugal



The Sameiro Sanctuary is a Marian sanctuary located in Braga, Portugal, whose construction began on July 14, 1863. The founder of this sanctuary was the vicar of Braga, Fr Martinho António Pereira da Silva, who in 1871 placed the image of Our Lady on the top of the mountain.

This sanctuary is the largest center of Marian devotion in Portugal, after Fatima. The church, completed in the 20th century, is an imposing building, and inside, a rich altar houses the venerated statue of Our Lady. In front of the church is an imposing, wide staircase, at the top of which rise two tall columns, with statues of the Virgin Mary and the Sacred Heart of Jesus. In 1904, the fiftieth anniversary of the proclamation of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, the sacred effigy was solemnly crowned before over half a million pilgrims. In 1954, the Sanctuary was awarded the Golden Rose, a tribute from the Supreme Pontiff to the most beloved shrines in Catholicism.


St Justin Russolillo Writes...

"Through this consecration [Consecration to Jesus through Mary], the Virgin Mary becomes (1) the sole possessor of all the satisfaction achieved by our good deeds, which she can use to realize better the greater glory of God, (2) the faithful depository and custodian of all the merits of our good deeds, graces, virtues and qualities that she jealously safeguards as a beautiful and precious treasure, which she will return to us on the Last Day."

(Ascension, trans. Louis Caputo, Vocationist Father, Newark, 1997, p. 421)

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