The appearance of the image of Our Lady of Aparecida occurred in 1717, the time of the Hereditary Captains. The ruler of the captaincies of São Paulo and Minas de Ouro was passing through the Paraíba Valley, more precisely by Guaratinguetá. Excited by the visit, the people of that locality decided to have a welcome party and for this they called three fishermen, Domingos Garcia, João Alves and Filipe Pedroso to throw their nets in the river and catch good fish.

The fact was that at that time, mid-October, it was not fish time. However, as they could not contradict the request, they prayed for the protection and blessing of the Virgin Mary and God so that they could return to the land with plenty. After countless unsuccessful attempts, behold, they surprisingly fished the body of an image. Curious, they threw the nets again and "fished" a head that fit the body perfectly. After this meeting, which today is represented all over Brazil on October 12th thrilling the faithful, the boat was so full of fish that it almost turned!

From there, the devotion of the saint was spreading. First in the houses, then a chapel was built, then a basilica, until reaching the fourth largest sanctuary in the world, the National Shrine of Aparecida located in the city of Aparecida, inland of the state of São Paulo.

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