Juazeiro do Norte is a city in the state of

Ceará Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...

state in northeastern

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. It is located 491 km south of the state capital

Fortaleza Fortaleza (, locally , Portuguese for ''Fortress'') is the state capital of Ceará, located in Northeastern Brazil. It belongs to the Metropolitan mesoregion of Fortaleza and microregion of Fortaleza. It is Brazil's 5th largest city and the t ...

in the semiarid

sertão The ''sertão'' (, plural ''sertões'') is the "hinterland" or "backcountry". In Brazil, it refers both to one of the four sub-regions of the Northeast Region of Brazil (similar to the specific association of "outback" with Australia in English ...

. The municipality has a population of 276,264 (2020 official estimate) and covers 248 km². Juazeiro do Norte is best known as the base of the charismatic priest and politician

Padre Cícero Servant of God Cícero Romão Batista, known as Father Cícero ( pt, Padre Cícero) (March 24, 1844 – July 20, 1934), was a Brazilian Catholic priest who became a spiritual leader to the people of Northeastern Brazil. In the course of his minis ...

(Cícero Romão Batista) (1844-1934). A

pilgrimage A pilgrimage is a journey, often into an unknown or foreign place, where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience. It can lead to a personal transformation, aft ...

in his honour takes place every November, attracting thousands of followers. The city is served by Orlando Bezerra de Menezes Airport. Juazeiro do Norte is connected to the nearby city of Crato by a commuter rail line called the

Cariri Metro Cariri Metro ( pt, Metrô do Cariri, though it is technically not a metro system; also known as pt, VLT do Cariri) is a , nine station diesel commuter rail line (sometimes referred to as a light rail (VLT) line) in the Cariri region of southern ...

that opened in 2009–2010.

History

Juazeiro do Norte was initially a district of the nearby city of Crato, until a young Padre Cícero Romão Batista decided to stay as a cleric in the village. Padre Cícero was then responsible for the independence and emancipation of the city. Because of the so-called "milagre de Juazeiro" ("miracle in Juazeiro", when

gave the sacred host to the religious sister

Maria de Araújo Maria may refer to: People * Mary, mother of Jesus * Maria (given name), a popular given name in many languages Place names Extraterrestrial *170 Maria, a Main belt S-type asteroid discovered in 1877 *Lunar maria (plural of ''mare''), large, da ...

, the host became blood), the priest was associated with mystical characteristics and began to be venerated by the people as a saint. Today the city is the second largest in the state and a reference in the

Northeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each se ...

region thanks to the priest.

Musical events

On July 6, 2013, during the worst drought in 60 years in the Brazilian Wilderness (Sertão), a Christian music band

Diante do Trono Diante do Trono (; lit.: Before the Throne) is a Brazilian contemporary Christian music band formed in 1997 as a ministry of Lagoinha Church in Belo Horizonte. It is led by singer, songwriter and pastor Ana Paula Valadão. The group became po ...

recorded its sixteenth work in Juazeiro do Norte, '' Tu Reinas'' album was recorded at Park Events Padre Cicero brought together approximately 50,000 people who came from all parts of Brazil, was the largest event in Juazeiro do Norte and across the Sertão region.

References

Municipalities in Ceará {{Ceará-geo-stub