The feasts of the Holy Christ, considered the second largest religious event in the country after the pilgrimages to Fátima, are being held from today in Ponta Delgada, Azores, with Sunday’s procession being the highlight of the festivities.
The festivities, which are based on the image of ‘Ecce Homo’, take place from today until Thursday of next week (May 9), in the city of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, and are held annually on the fifth Sunday after Easter.
According to the definitive program of the festivities, published on the website of the Brotherhood of the Lord Santo Cristo, today, at 11:00 local time (12:00 in Lisbon), there will be a Mass for the sick in São José Church, presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Angra, Armando Esteves Domingues, followed by a visit to the Sanctuary of the Lord Santo Cristo.
At 9 p.m., the decorative lighting of the Campo de São Francisco and the façade of the Shrine is inaugurated and the bazaar opens next to the temple.
One of the main moments of the festivities takes place on Saturday, with the procession of the Moving of the image of the Holy Christ around Campo de São Francisco, starting at 4:30 p.m., in a procession where thousands of devotees participate every year, some barefoot and with bundles of tapers (candles) on their backs, in payment of promises.
After the Moving Procession, the image of the Holy Christ will be transported to the Church of St. Joseph, where it will remain until Sunday morning.
But before the procession of the Changing of the Image, hundreds of pilgrims will walk the cobbled Campo de São Francisco on their knees on Saturday morning as a way of paying their promises to the Holy Christ.
For the first time this year, there will be a Mass in English on Sunday at 08:00 local time in St. Joseph’s Church.
The Mass will be presided over by Father Larry Machado, of Azorean descent and pastor of the Portuguese parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Turlock.
Immediately after Mass, and still on Sunday, the image will leave St. Joseph’s Church at 9:15 a.m. for the Shrine’s churchyard, where it will remain for the Eucharistic celebration (9:30 a.m.), presided over by the bishop of Stockton, California, Myron Cotta.
Bishop Myron Cotta, son of Azorean parents but born in the United States, is presiding over this year’s religious festivities, which bring thousands of pilgrims to the island of São Miguel every year, from the islands, the mainland and emigrant communities, namely the United States of America and Canada.
After the celebration in the Sanctuary’s churchyard, the image of the Holy Christ is taken to the Convent to be prepared for Sunday’s procession, which begins at 3:30 p.m. and will take about four hours to cover the main flower-lined streets of the largest city in the Azores, a procession carried out on the initiative of a Clarissa nun, Mother Teresa d’Anunciada.
On Monday, a municipal holiday, there will be a Eucharistic celebration for the intentions of the Board of the Brotherhood and its collaborators, presided over by the Bishop of the Diocese of Angra.
At 14:30, there will be a public auction of gifts and small domestic animals and the bazaar will open at 15:00.
Also on Monday, the traditional parade in honor of the Holy Christ will be held by taxi drivers, firefighters, police officers and motorcyclists, starting at 12:30 p.m. in the São Francisco field.
On Thursday, at 5pm, the bazaar reopens and, an hour later, the religious festivities of Santo Cristo dos Milagres close with a solemn concelebration in honor of Mother Teresa da Anunciada, presided over by the Rector of the Shrine, Canon Manuel Carlos Sousa Alves.
This year, the Government of the Azores is once again granting time off to regional public administration workers whose offices are based on the island of São Miguel, on the Monday of the festivities, a municipal holiday in Ponta Delgada.
In the order signed by the President of the Regional Government, José Manuel Bolieiro, it is pointed out that the feast in honour of the Lord Santo Cristo dos Milagres “has a profound meaning for Azoreans, mobilizing sentiment, faith and adherence in the Azores and in the diaspora”.
The Azorean government has also decided to allow public administration workers with offices in the municipality of Ponta Delgada, on the island of São Miguel, time off on the Thursday of the Santo Cristo festivities.
