PERSONAL DATA
Father Cícero Romão Batista was born in Crato (Ceará) on March 24, 1844. He was the son of Joaquim Romão Batista and Joaquina Vicência Romana, known as Dona Quinô.
At the age of six, he began to study with Prof. Rufino de Alcântara Montezuma.
An important fact marked his childhood: the vow of chastity, made at age 12, influenced by the reading of the life of St. Francis de Sales.
In 1860, he was enrolled in the College of the renowned Padre Inacio de Sousa Rolim, in Cajazeiras-Paraíba. It was not long before the unexpected death of his father, a victim of cholera-morbus, in 1862, forced him to interrupt his studies and return to his mother and two unmarried sisters.
The death of his father, who was a small merchant in Crato, brought serious financial difficulties to his family, so that later, in 1865, when Cícero Romão Batista had to enter the Prainha Seminary in Fortaleza, he did so only thanks to the help of his godfather of confirmation, Colonel Antônio Luiz Alves Pequeno.
ORDINATION
Padre Cicero was ordained on November 30, 1870. After his ordination he returned to Crato, and while the Bishop did not give him a parish to administer, he taught Latin in Padre Ibiapina College, founded and directed by Prof. José Joaquim Teles Morocco, his cousin and great friend.
ARRIVAL
At the Christmas of 1871, invited by Prof. Semeão Correia de Macêdo, Father Cicero first visited the village of Juazeiro (then belonging to Crato), and there celebrated the traditional Mass of the Rooster.
The 28-year-old visiting priest, short stature, white skin, fair hair, piercing blue eyes and modulated voice made a good impression on the locals. And the reciprocal was true. Therefore, after a few months, exactly on April 11, 1872, he was back, with luggage and family, to settle in Juazeiro.
Many books affirm that Father Cicero decided to settle in Juazeiro due to a dream (or vision) he had, according to which, once, at the end of an exhausting day, after spending hours in the confessional in the camp, he tried to rest in the room next to the schoolroom, where they improvised their lodging, when they fell asleep and the vision that would change their destiny was revealed. He saw, as he related to his close friends, Jesus Christ and the twelve apostles seated at the table, in a mood reminiscent of Leonardo da Vinci's Last Supper. Suddenly, a crowd of people entering their place carrying their meager belongings into small bundles, like the Northeastern retreatants. Christ, turning to the hungry, spoke of his deception with humanity, but said he was still willing to make one last sacrifice to save the world. But if men did not repent quickly, He would do it all at once. At that moment, He pointed to the poor and, turning unexpectedly, ordered: And you, Father Cicero, take care of them!
APOSTOLATE
Once installed in the village, formed by a small cluster of mud houses and a chapel erected by the first chaplain Father Pedro Ribeiro de Carvalho, in honor of Our Lady of Sorrows, Patron of the place, he initially tried to improve the appearance of the chapel, acquiring several images with the alms given by the faithful.
Later, touched by the ardent desire to conquer the people entrusted to him by God, he developed intense pastoral work with preaching, advice and home visits, as had never been seen in the Region. In this way, he quickly gained the sympathy of the inhabitants, and began to exercise great leadership in the community.
At the same time, acting with much austerity, he took care of moralizing the customs of the population, ending personally with the excesses of drunkenness and prostitution. Restored to harmony, the village then experienced the first steps of growth, attracting people from the neighborhood curious to meet the new Chaplain. In order to assist him in his pastoral work, Father Cicero decided, like Father Ibiapina, a famous Northeastern missionary, who had died in 1883, to recruit single women and widows for the organization of a lay brotherhood, formed by beatas, under his authority.
MIRACLE
An unusual fact, happened on March 1, 1889, transformed the routine of the village and the life of Father Cicero forever.
On that date, when she participated in a general communion, officiated by him, in the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows, Blessed Maria de Araújo, when she received the consecrated host, could not swallow her because it had been transformed into blood.
The fact was repeated again and again, and the people thought it was a new outpouring of the blood of Jesus Christ, and therefore an authentic miracle.
The towels with which the Blessed Woman's mouth was cleansed became bloodstained and became the object of everyone's veneration.
REACTION OF THE CHURCH
At first, Father Cicero treated the case with caution, keeping even secrecy for some time. The physicians Marcos Madeira and Idelfonso Correia Lima and the pharmacist Joaquim Secundo Chaves were invited to witness the changes, and then signed a statement stating that the fact was inexplicable in the light of science. This helped to strengthen in the people, in Padre Cícero and in other priests the belief in the miracle.
The village became a pilgrimage: people wanted to see the Blessed One and worship the red cloths of blood.
Professor and journalist José Marrocos, from the beginning an ardent supporter of the miracle, made sure to publicize it in the press.
The news came to the attention of Bishop Joaquim José Vieira, deeply irritating him. Father Cicero was summoned to the Episcopal Palace in Fortaleza to provide clarification on the events that everyone commented on.
Initially, the bishop was astonished at the account made by Father Cicero, but then, pressed by some segments of the Church that did not accept the idea of a miracle, he had the official investigation investigated, naming a Commission of Inquiry composed of two priests of recognized competence: the Fathers Clicério of the Costa Lobo and Francisco Ferreira Antero.
The parish priests came, watched the changes, examined the Blessed, heard witnesses and then concluded that the fact was indeed divine. The bishop did not like this result and appointed another commission, made up of Fathers Antonio Alexandrino de Alencar and Manoel Cândido.
The new Commission acted swiftly. He summoned the Blessed, gave him communion, and as nothing extraordinary happened, he concluded: There was no miracle!
The people, Prof. José Marrocos, Father Cicero and all the other priests who believed in the miracle protested.
With the contrary position of the bishop, a disturbance arose, aggravated when the Report of the Inquiry was sent to the Holy See in Rome, and this one confirmed the decision made by the bishop.
All the priests who believed in the miracle were obliged to publicly portray themselves, being reserved to Father Cicero a greater punishment: the suspension of order.
All his life he tried to revoke that penalty, but it was in vain. In fact, he until he achieved a victory in Rome, when he was there in 1898. However, the bishop, by intransigence, remained irreducible in the decision made initially.
One hundred years later the miracle of Juazeiro was studied by Parapsychology. According to scholars of this science, a case of contribution was what would have happened to the beata. The scam thesis, espoused by many priests and writers, was dismissed by parapsychologists.
POLITICAL LIFE
Forbidden to celebrate, Father Cicero has entered political life. As he explained in his Testament, he did so to attend to the insistent appeals of his friends, and at the hour when the Juazirans outlined a movement of political emancipation.
After the independence of Juazeiro, on July 22, 1911, Father Cicero was appointed Prefect of the newly created municipality. In addition to being Mayor, he also held the Vice Presidency of Ceará.
About his participation in the Revolution of 1914 he stated categorically that the head of the movement was Dr. Floro Bartolomeu da Costa, his great friend. The Revolution of 1914 was planned by the Federal Government with the purpose of deposing the President of Ceará Cel. Franco Rabelo. With the victory of the Revolution, Father Cicero resumed the position of Mayor, from which he had been withdrawn by the deposed government, and his prestige grew. Her house, once visited only by pilgrims, came to be sought also by politicians and various authorities.
The volume of correspondence that Father Cicero received and sent was very great. He left no letter, even small bills, no answer, and he kept a copy of everything.
ENCOUNTER WITH LAMPION
With respect to Lampiao, Father Cicero met him in 1926. He advised him to leave the cangaço, and never gave him the rank of Captain, as was said in some books. In fact, Lampião came to Juazeiro at the invitation of Deputy Floro Bartolomeu to join the Patriotic Battalion and fight the Prestes Column. It is possible that he used Father Cicero's name for such, since Lampiao would never refuse a request from Father Cicero. Dr. Floro could not receive Lampião and his band, since he was already in Rio de Janeiro where he had been ill, and he died, coincidentally, at the time when the famous cangaceiro visited Juazeiro. As he insisted on receiving the patronage of Captain promised by Dr. Floro, one of the secretaries of Padre Cícero (Benjamim Abraham), he persuaded Dr. Pedro de Albuquerque Uchoa, the only federal civil servant residing in Juazeiro, to sign a document for themselves, granting the notorious patent, which so many annoyances brought to Father Cicero, to whom many writers attribute authorship.
The truth is that later Dr. Uchoa was summoned to Recife to explain himself to the armed forces about the granting of the patent, and he, naturally fearing a punishment, found no alternative but to ascribe everything to Father Cicero, certain that no one would be able to rebuke that virtuous and respected priest. Anyone who knows the nature of Father Cicero knows perfectly well that he would be incapable of practicing such an abject act.
