Juazeiro do Norte

In 1889 a communion wafer given by Padre Cicero Romao Batista to a local woman was reported to have turned to blood, and the pilgrims who came in response turned a village into a city. Rome investigated, rejected the miracle and suspended the priest from his functions, and he was never reinstated - but the sertao venerated him regardless, and he became a political figure, mayor and state vice-governor, and after his death in 1934 the object of continuous pilgrimage. A statue of him twenty-seven metres high stands on Horto hill above the city. Millions come each year, mostly on the September and November romarias, walking or arriving in decorated buses from across the north-east. The church accepted a formal reconciliation with his memory only in the twenty-first century.

What you actually see

• A twenty-seven-metre statue - Padre Cicero standing over the city on Horto hill.
• Romaria crowds - pilgrims arriving on foot and in decorated buses.
• The Socorro church - where the priest is buried, in the city centre.
• A rejected miracle, kept anyway - a devotion Rome refused and the sertao held.

When to go

September and November for the romarias; any time otherwise. Two days.

Honest expectations

During the romarias the city is overwhelmed and accommodation is impossible without long advance booking. The commercial religious trade around the sites is heavy. Heat is severe on Horto hill and the walk up is exposed.

Nearby

Crato and the Araripe plateau are west; Barbalha completes the Cariri triangle.