marian anniversaries     may

Fourth Sunday in May

Santa Maria de Cárquere, Resende, Viseu, Norte, Portugal

The first king of Portugal, so the story goes, was born paralyzed from the knees down. When Afonso Henriques was four years old, around 1113, his tutor had a dream. Our Lady appeared, asking him to go to the hills overlooking the Douro River, where he would find her image in the ruins of a chapel. She promised that if the child would remain overnight on the altar there, he would be cured. The tutor, Egas Moniz, made her promise come true. He organized a search and found the tiny stone image hidden in the Cárquere area near Resende. After an overnight vigil, with the young count lying on the altar, Afonso Henriques gained full use of his legs. Egas Moniz was able to train him to ride and fight. A new church was built there, with a monastery of Augustinian Canons, famous as the place of the "Miracle of Cárquere."   

The amulet-like marble statuette of St. Mary of Cárquere was assumed to date from the Visigothic period (c600) and to have been hidden after the Arab invasion of 711. Some now suggest it is a work of the 1100s (Álvaro Duarte de Almeida and Duarte Belo, eds., Portugal património, Volume IV: Viseu, Guarda, Lisbon: Círculo de Leitores, 2007-2008).

Although the liturgical festa of St.  Mary of Cárquere takes place on the second Sunday after Easter, Resende holds its patronal celebration on the fourth Sunday in May. After morning mass in St. Lucy's chapel, a procession heads for Cárquere Monastery some three miles south. To the strains of the national anthem, the Bishop of Lamego joins the group, followed by representatives of Resende's 15 districts. At Cárquere, the Bishop celebrates a solemn mass and the sacrament of confirmation. In the afternoon, there is a eucharistic procession and music by municipal bands. 

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