This visit will be oriented by Eduarda Vieira, Researcher, Assistant Professor at the School of Fine Arts at the Catholic University of Porto, and Joana Palmeirão, PhD in Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Assets.

Registrations: cultura@irmandadedalapa.pt

Lapa Church, located in the city of Porto, is recognized for housing the sacred body of the Holy Martyr Vitória. After the exhumation of her relics, along with the vessel of blood, from the catacombs of Rome in 1779, they were carefully dressed and adorned. According to the inscription on the cartouche next to the simulacrum, the name “Vitória” does not correspond to her first name (nominis proprii), which would be engraved on the tombstone. Thus, she may have been one of the many corpi santi baptized with the name “Vitória”, whose meaning possibly evokes triumph, success and success. The relics were brought to Portugal through D. Francisco de Almada e Mendonça, ambassador to the Court of Rome, for private veneration. Later, in 1811, her simulacrum was generously donated by the family to the Lapa Brotherhood, thus promoting public veneration of the holy martyr.