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The island of São
Miguel was intensely shaken by numerous and powerful earthquakes in 1700. Since they had been going on for many
days and didn't seem like they were going to stop, the Table of Mercy and many noblemen of the city decided to
go to the main gate of the Esperança Monastery, to take the Image out in a procession.
On the afternoon
of April 13, 1700, all the brotherhoods and religious orders were brought together. Also, all the noblemen and
huge crowd gathered with tremendous faith to try to appease the divine indignation by contemplating the holy Image.The
procession, in which everyone went barefoot, had begun; as soon as the Image was seen at the main gate, the crowd
expressed their immense commotion through tears and sighs, proof of their undeniable sorrowful hearts.
The most qualified
noblemen carried the litter for conveying religious images with the Santo Cristo. As the procession went along,
the respectable Image would enter every church where the choir would sing the psalms "Miserere mei Deus".
Despite the protection and caution with which they carried the Image, after leaving the Jesuit church and on the
way to the church of the Santo André Order, the Image fell off its frame and hit the ground to great amazement
of all those who watched on. It was considered a mysterious fall because it didn't fall through one of the sides
but through the front of the frame.
The crowd panicked
with this strange incident. Some wounded their chests with stones; others kissing the ground believing that it
had been sanctified on account of the contact with the Image, asked for the Lord's mercy. With penance instruments
they gave themselves strong, pitiless blows, staining the earth with the blood of their veins; these in a loud
voice publicly announced their faults, considering themselves the cause of the Lord's indignation. In between their
tender sighs and uproar, they asked God to stop demonstrating his just vengeance.
It was then that
they realized that the Image had not been damaged with the fall except for a bruise on the right arm.
At the Santo André convent, the Image was washed and cleaned and then put on its frame again with the utmost
caution. The procession continued, between tears and sobs, which impeded the panicked people to continue their
prayers, until nightfall when the Image was returned to the Esperança Monastery.
And the divine wrath was appeased…
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