Portugal seeks divine help to win Euro championship

BY CHRISTINA FARRELL
SVEN GORAN Eriksson’s England thought they were battling the dancing footwork of Cristiano Ronaldo but it now appears that the Portuguese team was also divinely inspired.
As Portugal came on to the pitch in the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon they blessed themselves and touched the turf for luck.
And Brazilian coach Luiz Felipe Scolari, the man the Portuguese call “Sargentao” (the big sergeant), prayed to Our Lady of Caravaggio before the national team’s key matches against Spain and England.
As coach of Brazil, Scolari used to inspire his players with quotations from The Art of War by Sun Tzu, a Chinese general of the fourth century BC.
But according to reports in the Lisbon press, Scolari asked the Brazilian Football Federation to send him an icon of Our Lady of Caravaggio, patron of his native region, Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul.
The region has a strong Italian heritage with many of the inhabitants hailing from Caravaggio.
Scolari has also revealed that footballer Luis Figo prayed in front of a picture of the Madonna and Child after being substituted in the match with England; while goalkeeper Ricardo, who slotted a penalty past England goalkeeper David James, vowed to walk all the way to the shrine of Our Lady of Fatima — some 75 miles from Lisbon — if Portugal won the title.
The Sporting Lisbon player, became a national hero after saving a penalty from Darius Vassell and scoring the final penalty against England.
“Faith moves mountains,” said Ricardo. “Now we must get past another obstacle, the Dutch, who will be just as difficult as or even more difficult than England.” Our Lady of Caravaggio appeared to a farmworker named Joaneta in the little town near Cremona in 1432. Blessed Don Luigi Orione, founder of the Sons of Divine Providence, built a shrine to her memory at Fumo, in Italy, in the late 1930s.
As The Catholic Herald went to press Portugal was preparing for its semi-final clash with the Netherlands. Regardless of the outcome, fans have already recorded their appreciation.
One visitor to a fanzine website wrote: “Our Lady of Caravaggio, Portugal thanks you. Amen.”