The 1877–1879 Ceará drought and the Canindé Saint Francis miracle tradition

Record summary

The catastrophic Ceará drought of 1877–1879 intensified pilgrimage and devotional appeals to São Francisco das Chagas de Canindé, whose cult had already been developing in northeastern Brazil. Accounts of vows, processions, almsgiving and divine protection offer a nineteenth-century case for comparing environmental disaster with saintly intercession and institutional charity. The drought itself is extensively documented, but individual miracle claims require separate examination in ex-votos, parish records and devotional print. Researchers should distinguish famine relief, ritual response and retrospective claims of supernatural intervention.