The Festivities in honor of the «great hero» who was Beato Vicente take place from this Saturday, 1st of September, and last until Monday, the 3rd, in Albufeira.
The highlight of the program is the Solemn Eucharist in honor of Blessed Vicente de Santo António, followed by a procession (Igreja Matriz) from 18:00 on Sunday.
On the 3rd, this Eucharist is once again celebrated at 18 pm, at Matriz, as this is the anniversary of his martyrdom.
Vicente de Santo António was beatified in the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX on the 7th of July 1867 and became the patron saint of Albufeira in 1965, a city that never ceased to worship him.
Vicente was born in 1590 in Albufeira Castle. His parents, the doctor António Simões and Catarina Pereira, sent him to Lisbon at the age of 14 to also study medicine, but the young man from Albufeiren soon devoted himself to other subjects, namely, arts and theology. He was ordained a priest at the age of 27.
In 1523 he went to Japan and was forced to change his costume and name, becoming a traveling clerk in the streets of Nagasaki in order to enter the homes of families, where he converted people and consoled and encouraged persecuted Christians.
Having also passed through Spain, Mexico and the Philippines, he ended up martyred in Japan on September 3, 1623.
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