| dc.description.abstract | Maria Zaira Cordova Penna, better known as Mariazinha Penna, having been affected
by cancer, died in extreme suffering, still very young, only 20 years old, in 1953. Since
then, according to reports, an intense pilgrimage to her tomb began, where many
people come to pray, ask for intercession, give thanks, or simply out of curiosity, given
the impact of their history of faith and resignation in the face of a painful illness. This
research is justified by the popularity of Mariazinha, consolidated as a religious icon of
Santa Maria/RS for almost 70 years, whose devotion falls within the concept of the
intangible cultural heritage of the municipality, based on the definition elaborated by
the United Nations Organization for Education, Science and Culture (UNESCO). For
this reason, a research project was submitted to the Graduate Program in Cultural
Heritage at the Federal University of Santa Maria (PPGPC/UFSM), in the Research
Line of Archival Documental Heritage. Thus, since 2019, based on exploratory and
qualitative research, documents, reports (participant research), and published texts on
Mariazinha Penna, the saint of Santa Maria – as she is recognized by a portion of the
local community – have been gathered and analyzed, taking as materiality the written
media, especially the extinct Jornal A Razão, the internet, the biography, and other
related publications. In addition, particularities were noted regarding the paraliturgical
celebrations in honor of the saint, which systematically occur in the Municipal
Ecumenical Cemetery and the Nossa Senhora da Glória Parish – the recitation of the
Rosary to Mariazinha Penna –. Based on the documentation raised, we sought to
compare and ratify information about the devotional phenomenon portrayed in the
biography “Mariazinha Penna: a predestined”, work by Abelin (1988) designated as a
parameter of this research. It was verified, therefore, that there was a correlation
between the information present in the aforementioned book with the existing data in
the documentary collection, corroborating and complementing information about Maria
Zaira. But some possible inconsistencies between the sources were also noted.
However, it can be deduced that Mariazinha is still present in the social imaginary of
Santa Maria, considering that there are different memory resources associated with
the venerated one, available in public and ecclesiastical archives, monuments, exvotos, prayers, means of communication, cemetery space, religious space, in addition
to its diffusion through oral tradition. Finally, it is observed that other local characters
were identified, who were subjected, at some point, to popular processes aimed at
building devotions, most of which had a life story and/or tragic death as vectors of
sacralization, namely, Conceição Carvalho de Vargas, Terezinha Baldaço (or
Baldasso), Father Quedi, Silvia Regina Leal and Bernardo Uglione. These findings, it
is intended to systematize research projects and subsequent comparative study. | |
