With great joy, the Vice Province of Manaus celebrated a beautiful and participative Solemn Mass at the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida in celebration of the 80th anniversary of the presence of the Redemptorist missionaries in the Amazon on July 22. The Mass was presided over by Cardinal Leonardo Steiner, Metropolitan Archbishop of Manaus, with three Redemptorist bishops as concelebrants – Bishop Zenildo Pereira (Diocese of Borba – Amazonas), Bishop Marcos Piatek, (Diocese of Coari – Amazonas), and Bishop Geraldo Freire (Diocese of Iguatu – Ceará).
Fr. Amarildo Luciano, Vice Provincial Superior of the Vice Province of Manaus, concelebrated the Mass with our own Provincial Superior Kevin Zubel and Fr. Edilei Rosa (Provincial Superior of Campo Grande – Mato Grosso do Sul) and Fr. Maiko Teffaveri (Provincial Superior of Porto Alegre – Rio Grande do Sul). Many other priests from Manaus and other States, men and women religious, Redemptorist seminarians, and lay men and women also participated. Health issues prevented Bishop Gutemberg Freire Régis (Bishop Emeritus of the Diocese of Coari – Amazonas) from participating.
An extensive program for the jubilee celebration began with a Mass in November of 2022, during which the Pilgrim Cross was presented. In March of this year, pilgrimages began in Redemptorist communities in the Amazon, passing through the cities of Anori, Codajás, Coari, Manacapuru and Caapiranga, which are in the Diocese of Coari. In the State of Acre, the Pilgrim Cross passed through Feijó and Cruzeiro do Sul (Diocese of Cruzeiro do Sul) and in the capital Rio Branco (Diocese of Rio Branco).
In Manaus, the Pilgrim Cross went to the Redemptorist parishes: Parish of Sant’Ana, Parish of Santo Afonso Maria de Ligório, Parish of São Geraldo, Parish of Santa Luzia (Matinha), Parish of São Lázaro, Parish of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Parish of Our Lady of Perpétuo Socorro, Santíssimo Redentor Missionary Area, Convent of the Adorers of the Blood of Christ, the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Aparecida and São João Baptist Parish – Iranduba (Archdiocese of Manaus). The pilgrimage ended at São Sebastião Parish in gratitude for the welcome given to the first American Redemptorist missionaries from the United States, who stayed for six weeks with the Franciscan friars when they arrived in Brazil. After the Mass, there was a procession to the Our Lady Aparecida Sanctuary, remembering the path taken by these missionaries to the neighborhood of Tocos – today, the neighborhood of Aparecida.
For this jubilee, a replica of the Redemptorist cross was made from mulateiro wood, a tree typical of the Amazon Region known by the people of the forest as the “fountain of youth.” Tea is made from its bark, and extracts can also be used in the manufacture of cosmetics. According to Fr. Ronaldo Mendonça, the inside part of this structure brings us the symbology of vitality, new blood, new charism that is arriving to add to the whole mission of pioneers that passed during these 80 years.
The cross present in the Jubilee logo is engraved with indigenous graphics to commemorate the original peoples of the Amazon. The
cross for Redemptorists represents Redemption. On it we do not have Christ nailed, because it is the Cross of Redemption. In addition to the cross, we have the instruments of the Passion – the spear and the sponge – present in the Redemptorist Coat of Arms. The canoe, in the early days of our mission, was the means of transportation used to cross the waters and reach those who most needed our message. The canoe became the altar of a love offering; an offering that is renewed in wine and bread. The logo was created by Léo Vieira, a design graduate who is in the Pre- Novitiate formation program.
In April of this year, the Catholic Faculty of Amazonas promoted the Week of the Indigenous Peoples and Socio-Environmental Amazonian Seminar, with the theme: Ecclesiastical Routes and the 80 years of the Redemptorist Congregation in the Amazon. The purpose of the event was to promote dialogue about the social, political, cultural and environmental aspects present in the Amazon Region and their impact on the ways of life of traditional peoples.
The opening lecture was on Ecclesial Routes in the Amazon: Memory and history of the Redemptorist Congregation, and had the participation in the round table of Prof. Dr. José Alcimar de Oliveira (UFAM), Vice Provincial Superior Amarildo Luciano, and Redemptorist Br. Bruno Coutinho as mediator. Fr. Amarildo highlighted the presence of the Redemptorist Congregation in the formation of the faith of the Amazonian people.