The main objective of the Padre Cícero Memorial, located in the city of Juazeiro do Norte, in the so-called Vale do Cariri (Cariri Valley) in the State of Ceará, is to keep and spread the memory of Padre Cícero Romão Batista, founder and first mayor of the city.
Son of Joaquim Romão Batista and Joaquina Vicência Romana, Padre Cícero was born in 1844 in the Ceará city of Crato. Ordained in Fortaleza in 1870, he returned to his home town, where he started to preach. The following year he celebrated his first Christmas Mass in the Nossa Senhora das Dores (Our Lady of Sorrows) Chapel, located in, what was at the time, the settlement of Juazeiro, where he settled in 1872. From then on, he carried out his role as parish priest, dedicating himself completely to the job.
In 1889, several extraordinary events occurred, including the “Miracle of Juazeiro”, when the holy host transformed into blood during communion in a mass celebrated by Padre Cícero. Afterwards, a strong religious movement sprang – the pilgrimages to Juazeiro.
Inaugurated in 1988, the Padre Cícero Memorial has an archive that is a cultural reference for the thousands of Brazilians, especially North-easterners, who visit it. In it can be found objects personally used by Padre Cícero, clothing items, objects used in the celebration of masses, a beautiful porcelain dining set with Padre Cícero’s monogram engraved in gold, crystal and silverware used in banquets held by the priest, the three volumes of his testament and a large collection of photographs that tell his story.
Besides the exhibition rooms, auditorium and a library containing hundreds of books and published booklets about Padre Cícero, leaflets of popular literature and historic periodicals, the Memorial is part of a complex that contains three connected squares and the city’s main cemetery, in whose chapel are laid the mortal remains of the Patriarch of Juazeiro.
Recife, 29 November 2010.
Translated by Peter Leamy, January 2012.
sources consulted
LOPES, Régis. Imagens do Padre Cícero: sagrado e profano. Fortaleza: Museu do Ceará, 1999.
FUNDAÇÃO Memorial Padre Cícero. Disponível em: . Acesso em: 26 nov. 2010.
how to quote this text
Source: OLIVEIRA, Albino, Padre Cícero Memorial. Pesquisa Escolar Online, Joaquim Nabuco Foudation, Recife. Available at: <https://pesquisaescolar.fundaj.gov.br/en/>. Accessed: day month year. Exemple: 6 Aug. 2009