With the motto "Don Bosco among us", the visit will take place with an intense program which will involve the entire Northeast of Salesian Brazil, and in particular the works of Juazeiro do Norte in the State of Ceará, and the Metropolitan Region of Recife, Capital of the State of Pernambuco.
Cardinal Fernández Artime will begin his visit with his arrival in Recife on the evening of Monday 29 January and will be welcomed by the Rectors of the Salesian Works in BRE at the Provincial House.
On Tuesday, 30 January, the main activities will be the meeting with the Provincial Council and the celebration of the First Vespers of the Feast of St John Bosco with the Salesian Family.
On the following day, 31 January, the Feast of Don Bosco, the Rector Major will accept the first professions of the novices in Jaboatão dos Guararapes; then he will proceed to the blessing of the new house for elderly and sick Salesians in Bongi, near Recife; and in the evening, at the Provincial House, there will be a fraternal meeting with the Archbishop of Olinda and Recife, Archbishop Paulo Jackson Nóbrega de Sousa.
On Thursday, 1 February, the 10th Successor of Don Bosco will reach Juazeiro do Norte and there, in addition to presiding over a Eucharist in the Church of the Bom Jesus, he will give a press conference to interested journalists and media.
On Friday, 2 February, the Rector Major will learn more about the figure of Father Cicero, visiting the House Museum dedicated to him. Then he will bless a chapel in the Basilica and Shrine of Mary of Sorrows in Juazeiro do Norte and participate in a candlelight procession.
Some of the most significant events will be concentrated on 3 February with the Provincial Feast day, the celebration of the Eucharist with the dedication of the Church of the Bom Jesus, the posthumous declaration of Father Cicero as a Salesian Cooperator, the inauguration of a monument dedicated to him and a concert by the "Bom Jesus" Philharmonic of Matriz de Camaragibe.
On the last day of the visit, the Rector Major will meet with several Provincials from the area and the local Coordinators of the Salesian Family, and will participate in the provincial youth meeting. He will accept the perpetual vows of a young Salesian and will take part in a cultural evening in the St John Bosco Institute.
The Church of the Bom Jesus, in the locality known as Horto, in Juazeiro do Norte, was a dream of the Servant of God, Father Cicero Romão. Promised since 1899, the long-dreamed-of church will be dedicated on 3 February 2024, thus fulfilling the wish of this great evangeliser of Northeast Brazil.
Because of the severe drought afflicting the region, in fact, Father Cicero, as was known, together with other priests, made a promise to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, asking for rain and promising to build a church as a form of thanksgiving. The rains came and Father Cicero began to build the chapel with the help of the community. The construction of the church was interrupted on two occasions by mandate of the diocesan authority. Today, a statue of Father Cicero stands among the ruins of the second attempt.
The Salesians, who arrived years after the death of Father Cicero, built the Shrine of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the city below and, as stated in the inauguration plaque, they did so to fulfill the promise of Father Cicero.
With the increase in pilgrims to the Horto, decades later the need was felt to build a church also in Horto, which will be dedicated on 3 February. In this way, the explicit request that Father Cicero made to the Salesians is fulfilled.
