Brazil Trip - Aparecida Church 3

We stayed at Hotel Aprecida on the the way to Rio and back. This is the place with a famous Aparecida Cathedral honoring Maria Santissima. I was told this is 2nd largest cathedral next to Vantican. Wave of waves of pilgrims from South American come to pay the homage in summer season. According to the legend, a Portugal Count of Assumer was passing by the area in 1740s, the villagers were responsible to give a feast, they were very poor only was able to provide fish dishes. The villagers tried to catch the fishes in river were not avail, in stead, they retrieved the statue of Maria( dark complexion). The villagers worshiped the Maria in small chapel, the village became harvesting plenty of fishes and food, and prosperous. And the villagers were eluded the punishment from the Count. So a church was built in 1745 to honor Maria, eventually, expanded to a big cathedral of the national shrine, known as Basilica Mother Church in 1955.