The Great Feast of the Holy Spirit in Ponta Delgada, which took place this last weekend, attracted thousands of people.
One of the highlights of the festivities was the coronation mass at the Ponta Delgada parish church, which was attended by a vast crowd.
Plurality and difference “are a richness”, but whenever “the common good is at stake, understanding must prevail”, said Adriano Borges, parish priest of the São Sebastião parish church, which hosted the Mass and Coronation of the 21st edition of the Divine Holy Spirit Festivities.
“When we are open to receiving this gift of understanding, when everyone’s dream, despite the differences that are a richness, coincides, then we have to overcome the difficulties and build solutions that serve the good of all,” said the priest who presided for the first time at the Mass of this festival, which has the Ponta Delgada municipality as its “steward”.
“This festival is of everyone and for everyone, but it is much more than the sum of all the Holy Spirit festivals in the municipality; this is the festival of the meeting of all wills, where everyone is equal and where everyone fights for the same thing,” he added, leaving a prayer that he said at the beginning of the celebration.


“In this open-air cenacle, in this place that we want to be one of peace, harmony and fraternity, may the Holy Spirit, with the force of his wind, help us to sweep the dust from our minds and help us to foster unity; may his fire transform and purify the hearts of each one of us,” said the Father Adriano Borges, who crowned around 20 children from the catechism classes at the São Sebastião parish church and more than a dozen adults from various parishes in the municipality, including the mayors of Ponta Delgada and Alenquer.

“The Spirit in the Azores has this mark of joy,” concluded the priest.
The mass in the churchyard of the Igreja Matriz de São Sebastião is always one of the two highlights of this festival which, during the afternoon, traveled through the streets of Ponta Delgada with the different parishes gathering their brotherhoods to take part in the Coronation procession, concludes a note from Igreja Açores, whose photos are also here.

in Diário dos Açores – Osvaldo Cabral, director

Video of the festas

Translated to English as a community outreach program from the Portuguese Beyond Borders Institute (PBBI) and the Modern and Classical Languages and Literatures Department (MCLL) as part of Bruma Publication and ADMA (Azores-Diaspora Media Alliance) at California State University, Fresno, PBBI thanks Luso Financial for sponsoring NOVIDADES.