Our Lady’s hands are said to have once repelled pirates from the small, secluded island of Corvo in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
Every year, on the Aug. 15 feast of the Assumption, the people of Corvo, the smallest of nine islands in the Azores, celebrate their patroness, Nossa Senhora dos Milagres (“Our Lady of Miracles” in Portuguese), with Mass, a procession and a daylong feast in the village.