This site forms part of a Marian Shrine Route in Portugal for
Christians.
Mary, mother of Jesus, and often revered as “Nossa Senhora”, has long held a special place in Portuguese history. As national identity took shape (see
Portugal in the Reconquista), a parallel and exceptional devotion to Mary saw the founding of monasteries, chapels, churches and sanctuaries that are still the focus of celebration and popular festivals. It is to Mary that the majority of cathedrals in Portugal are dedicated, for example those in
Porto,
Viseu,
Lisbon and
Évora. Existence of the sanctuary is thanks to Fr Martinho Silva (1812-1875), priest in the archdiocese of Braga, and figurehead of a local Marian devotion from the middle of the 19th century. Only a generation earlier, religious houses throughout Portugal had been forced to close after the end of the
Liberal Wars. This, however, had been tantamount to civil war, from which the dust could have barely settled. Many of those faithfully adherent to the
Catholic Church, its institutions in Portugal ostensibly among the losers at cessation of hostilities, would have felt bereft and disorientated. Further afield, meanwhile, a vision reported by
Catherine Labouré had ignited a general revival of devotion to Mary. Then, in December 1854,
Pope Pius IX pronounced as dogma the
Immaculate Conception, the belief that, from when she was conceived, Mary had been free of
Original sin. The first
diocese in Portugal to celebrate this was Braga, with an elaborate ceremony in January 1855. In short order would have come news of the revelations reported by
Bernadette Soubirous at
Lourdes. Building the domed church started on 14 July 1863. On 28 August 1869 an outdoor shrine was dedicated. It incorporated a marble statue of Mary, work of a sculptor from
Porto, Emidio Carlo Amatucci (1811-1872). Electrical failure was blamed for its being wrecked in 1883. Three years later a replacement had been found, the work of
Antonio Teixeira Lopes. Developed over several decades, the religious complex at Sameiro also includes a venue for
Mass in the Catholic Church, the Casa das Estampas, the Rector’s House, the Chapel of the
Eucharist, the crypt under the church, and a grandiose flight of steps. At the top are monuments to the
Sacred Heart and the
Immaculate Conception. Close to the grounds' entrance are four statues honouring theologians noted for their writings about Mary:
Cyril of Alexandria,
Alphonsus Liguori,
Bernard of Clairvaux and
Anthony of Padua. == Adornment ==