A long time ago, in the year 1717, three fishermen lived near the Paraíba do Sul River, in Brazil. Their names were Domingos Garcia, João Alves, and Filipe Pedroso. One day, important news arrived: a very grand count was going to pass through the town of Guaratinguetá, and a great banquet had to be prepared to welcome him. And a fine banquet, in that land of rivers, called for plenty of fish.

The three fishermen went down to the river with their canoes and their nets. They cast the net here, they cast the net there. They waited, they pulled, they looked. Nothing. Not even one little fish. They paddled a bit farther, tried again, and again the net came up empty. It was not the season for fishing, and the river seemed to be asleep.

Tired out, they came to a place called Porto Itaguaçu. There, Filipe Pedroso, the oldest of the three, remembered to ask heaven for help.

— Mother of God, help us. Bless our fishing.

João Alves cast the net one more time. When he pulled it in, he felt a different kind of weight. It was not a fish. It was a small statue of Our Lady, made of dark clay, but it had no head. He cast the net again, a little farther on. And this time up came the head, which fit perfectly onto the body of the statue.

The fishermen looked at it with wonder and tenderness. They wrapped the statue in a cloth, very carefully, and laid it in the canoe. And then something marvelous happened. The nets, which had come up empty all day long, began to rise full of fish. So many fish, so very many, that the canoe grew heavy, and the three men had to hurry back to the bank, afraid they might sink.

They understood in that very moment: this little statue carried a very great blessing.

The statue was of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, tiny, dark in color, little bigger than a hand-span. Filipe Pedroso took her home and made her a simple little altar out of wood. For fifteen years, the statue stayed in the Pedroso family's house. The neighbors came there to pray, lit candles, sang, and asked for graces. And the graces came.

More and more people arrived. So Filipe's son, Atanásio, built a bigger oratory, so that everyone could fit inside. Because the statue had appeared out of the waters of the river, the people began to call her by a very tender name: Our Lady Aparecida, the Lady who appeared.

In time, the oratory became a chapel, and the chapel became a church. Around it a whole town grew up, and it took the name Aparecida. From far away, from very far away, families came on foot, on horseback, and in ox carts, just to pray before the small dark statue.

The love of the Brazilian people for Our Lady of Aparecida grew so much, so very much, that in 1930 Pope Pius XI declared her the Patroness of Brazil, which means the mother and protector of the whole country. Today, in the town of Aparecida, there stands an enormous basilica, one of the largest churches dedicated to Mary in the whole world. Every year, millions of people come to visit the little statue found in the river.

And every twelfth of October, all of Brazil celebrates her feast, with flowers, songs, and prayers. The statue is still as small as it was on the day of the fishing trip. But the love she awakens is as big as Brazil.