Prayer to Our Lady of Aparecida
Our Lady of the Conception, Aparecida, you who were drawn from the dark waters of the Paraíba in the net of three poor fishermen who had caught nothing all day, and who filled their nets afterwards until they nearly broke — you are small, and dark, and were found in pieces: the body first, then the head, then the fish. This is how you come to us, and how you put us back together. Queen and Patroness of Brazil, keep our families whole, our work honest, our tables full, and our nation faithful to the God who gave you to it. Amen.
When this prayer is prayed
On 12 October, her feast and Brazil's national holiday, and by any family in need of work or bread. The statue was found in the river in October 1717, in three parts, and the catch that followed is why the fishermen kept her.