Guaratinguetá (Brazil). On 21 February 2019, after 124 years of permanence in the Basilica of Mary Help of Christians in Niterói, the relics of the FMA were transferred to Guaratinguetá in the FMA Memorial in Brazil. It was a moment of memory and communion for Salesian history in Brazil.
It is recounted that: “On November 5, 1895, a group of 17 missionaries: Salesians, Daughters of Mary Help of Christians, and benefactors left on a special train from Guaratinguetá with the mission of founding three new presences: Cachoeira do Campo, Ouro Preto, and Ponte Nova. In the group there was Bishop, Msgr. Luis Lasagna.
During the trip a terrible tempest was unleashed: heavy rains, lightning, and storms. The train arrived at Juiz de Fora. Just over a kilometer from the direction of Mariano Procópio the station was very close, and sharp, repetitive whistles were heard. Some travelers, including the Bishop, watched from the train window. Another train was coming in the opposite direction at great speed. The impact between the two trains was inevitable.
The incident caused various victims: Monsignor Lasagna; the secretary, Father Villaamil; four Salesian sisters: Mother Teresa Rinaldi, Visitor to the Sisters of Brazil, 34; Sister Petronila Imas, 45; Sister Júlia Argenton, 28; Sister Edwiges Gomes Braga, only 22 years old; and Mrs. Joana Lusso, mother of a Sister and a Salesian cleric.
Fr. Luiz Zanchetta, Director of Santa Rosa School a Niterói, had a Monument to Mary Help of Christians erected and inaugurated on December 8, 1900, honoring the relics of Bishop Lasagna and the other victims of the Juiz de Fora disaster. It was an expression of gratitude to Bishop Lasagna, Founder of the Salesian Work in Brazil, and a great propagator of the devotion to Mary Help of Christians.
In 1931, in preparation for the 50th anniversary of the Salesians in Brazil that was celebrated in 1933, the Director of Santa Rosa School, Fr. Emilio Miotti, had an artistic chapel built to receive the relics near the Shrine of Mary Help of Christians.
On November 6, 1931, on the 36th anniversary of the catastrophe, the relics were transferred in procession, from the Monument to Mary Help of Christians to the Shrine, in the presence of the Bishop of Campos dos Goytacazes, Monsignor Henrique Mourão, a student of Msgr. Lasagna.
On 21 February 2019, in the presence of Sister Helena Gesser, Provincial of St. Catherine of Siena Province (BSP); Sr. Ana Teresa Pinto, Provincial of Our Lady of Penha Province (BRJ); and the Parish Priest of Mary Help of Christians Basilica, Fr. Gustavo Colla; Salesians of the community of Santa Rosa in Niterói; and FMA, there was a Eucharistic Celebration, with the transfer of the relics of the Sisters and of Ms. Joana Lusso from the Chapel to the FMA Memorial in Guaratinguetá (BSP).
