Amalia de Jesús Flagelado
Amalia Aguirre was born in 1901 in Ríos (Galicia). Her parents immigrated to Brazil searching for a better life, but Amalia did not join them immediately. As she was very pious and devoted to charity, she decided to stay in Spain, taking care of the sick during the Great Flu pandemic. She finally left for Brazil in July 1919. There, she followed her religious vocation and nourished her devotion for the Passion of Christ and charity. In 1928, she co-founded, with Bishop Francisco Von Campos Barreto, a religious congregation in Campinas (Sao Paulo), which was called the Missionaries of Crucified Jesus. She took the religious name of Amalia de Jesús Flagelado. The congregation was both contemplative and active. The members could retain their secular dress and mix with citizens, helping the poor. Amalia lived in the community house in Campinas until 1953, when she was transferred to the House of Our Lady of the Apparition in Taubaté (Sao Paulo), where she died in 1977. Her life was especially devoted to poor children and widows. She carried visible stigmata and was venerated for this phenomenon, although she was better known for another extraordinary event.
This event occurred in November 1929, when a man asked for her help. His wife was sick and doctors thought that nothing could be done. Amalia asked Jesus to heal the woman. Jesus allegedly told her to ask ‘Our Lady of the Tears’ and to repeat a prayer with him. As a consequence a new devotion was born. A miraculous healing was supposedly received by the sick woman, leading to the great popularity of the Missionaries of Crucified Jesus and Our Lady of the Tears devotion. Four months later, in March 1930, Amalia claimed to have witnessed the apparition of the Virgin wearing a violet tunic and a white veil, and carrying a special rosary. She allegedly told Amalia that Jesus had asked her to give this ‘rosary of the tears’ to their congregation. She said that the rosary would help the congregation in the conversion of sinners and the possessed. She added that every grace asked using the rosary would be granted. According to Bishop Francisco Von Campos Barreto, innumerable favours were obtained thanks to the Our Lady of the Tears rosary. Today, the devotion continues to spread in Brazil and elsewhere around the world.
References:
Pinheiro Franco, Maria Apparecida Lemos, 1985. Serva de Deus – Irmã Amália. Taubaté: Alaúde