Basilica of Penha

The Church of Nossa Senhora da Penha, currently the Basilica Mariano Archdiocesan Shrine, is situated at the top of a cliff in the neighborhood of Penha, north of Rio de Janeiro. Its history begins in the mid-17th century, in the year 1635, by Captain Baltazar de Abreu Cardoso, a Portuguese nobleman and owner of the lands where he built a small church, in which he became one of the city's main temples.

History

Through oral memory, it is said that Captain Baltazar used to climb the cliff to observe his property, until one day, when resting at the feet of a tree, he came across a snake about to attack him. When he cried, “I was worth it, Our Lady”, a lizard appeared, a natural predator of the serpent and attacked her.

In thanks, the Captain raised on top of the cliff a small chapel in gratitude and praise to Our Lady of the Rosary. It is believed that as soon as the news of the miracle of Nossa Senhora do Alto do Penhasco spread, the invocation was replaced by Nossa Senhora da Penha, devotion originally from Spain, initiated in Portugal in the 16th century and taken to the Portuguese colonies.

In 1728, the small church was entrusted to the care of a group of faithful who founded the Venerable Brotherhood of Our Lady of Penha of France, which from then on became the owner of the site. In 1870, the Venerable Brotherhood demolished the chapel for the construction of a new temple. Among several interventions, the most relevant occurred in 1900, with a conclusion two years later, with the elements that make up the characteristics that remain to this day.

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