Lagos is having the day off on Friday with celebrations in honour of São Gonçalo de Lagos, a local who was made a Saint by Pope Pius VI.
After a ceremony at 9.30 in the Plaza Gil Eanes, there will be an outdoor Mass in the Jardim da Constituição at 10.30, which also is the starting point for the São Gonçalo procession at 11:30.
The route is along Avenida dos Descobrimentos, along the riverside, over the bridge to the marina and will finish in the port next to Docapesca where, at 12.30, the sea and fishing boats will be blessed.
The São Gonçalo festival is hardly new, starting in 1778 with the authorisation of Pope Pius VI.
Processions, offerings and pilgrimages to the place where Gonçalo was born were formalised with the government in 1971 and the October 27th date was set as a municipal holiday in honour of the local Saint.
Lagos joins Torres Vedras in celebrations as they both have São Gonçalo de Lagos as their patron Saint as he was born in Lagos around 1370 and died in Torres Vedras in 1422.
His family were wealthy Lagos fishermen and he was sent up to Lisbon to complete his studies. Here he showed an interest in joining the priesthood and decided to enter the Order of the Augustinians.
Gonçalo lived at the convent of Torres Vedras where he was revered as a preacher and for his pastoral work, especially with the poor and needy.
Gonçalo dedicated himself to teaching the word to the poorest children. He died on 15 October 1422 and then followed the miracle, in which he appeared to a shipwrecked relative whom he guided to the shore and to safety.
