Introducing the Saint Francis of Giovanni Vissoto in the São Francisco-Morumbi Area of Foz do Iguaçu
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| Artist Giovanni Vissoto working on restauration |
If you look for information (in English) on the
subject of this post, that is, on the Saint Francis Statue in the Morumbi sector
of Foz do Iguaçu, you will find none. If you are looking for info on this subject
in Portuguese you will find very little.
An exception is for the period from
mid November to the end of December. Most
local headlines will tell you that the Statute has been reformed for the first
time since its creation back in 2000. Construction began in 1997.
The reason for nobody caring about letting the world
know about his beautiful statue is somehow linked to prejudice against this
area of town. You probably have heard about the Itaipu Brazil –Paraguay (Binational)
Dam on the Parana River, the absolutely world’s largest dam until the
inauguration of the Three Gorge Dam in China and still keeping that claim to
fame as far as production is concerned.
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| Open Air Prayer meeting for restauration |
These residential areas were called Vila “A” for blue-collared workers, Vila “C” for construction workers and their families and Vila “B” for engineers and top administrative personnel. The Government expected that after conclusion of the dam, workers would return to their cities and states of origin and some of those housing projects could be teared down, mainly Vila “C”. That was a big mistake.
Thousands of those people after being fired had no intention
of going back to ther cities of origin. Many of those workers had no interesting places to go back to. Enterprising
landowners began parceling up land and dividing parcels into residental lots. People
leaving the Dam Construction were able to make a reasonable down payment for
their land and divide the remaining into 100 or more installments.
That is how an enormous area known as São Francisco began
its journey to become one of the most heavily populated area of Foz do Iguaçu wih over 60.000 "voters" today. For many years
living in this area was difficult. Violence, poverty was part of the daily
reality. But eventually
things began to change. First came electricity, water, asphalt. Then
small shops, small entrepreneurs began to make money. In 1997, sculptor
Giovanni Vissoto proposed to make a statue to São Francisco (Saint Francis),
in order to honor the saint. The Catholic Church had already built a Chapel named São Francisco that would progress to be a Parrish and the avenue needed something to make the
area more attractive.
Vissotos’s project got the approval of the then mayor
Harrry Daijo, a descendent of Okinawa Japanese immigrants despite the whole city insistence in
saying that he was Pilipino. The mayor
and the sculptor talked to the then Bishop Olivio Fava who blessed the project.
Vissoto began to work on the idea of the project.
The Bishop sent him a picture of the ideal Saint Francis. A blue-eyed, white-skinned, long
figured European man. Vissoto did not think that was right. The message of
Saint Francis had to be adapted to the
reality of this extremely large world.
One day with no idea in his head, Vissoto decided to
enter a local bar where cachaça – an alcohol firewater brew - was sold. He went to the
counter and ordered a shot of the firewater. That was kind of a password to be admitted
to the little world of the São Francisco village. Vissoto got his cachaça glass
as he allowed his eyes to travel around the room in search of inspiration and understanding
of that people's reality. That was when his eyes’ attention concentrated
on two feet inside an old pair of slippers. Those were the feet of a sufferer. Toes
were enormous. The toenails were big, thick, black with fungus and dust. His eyes traveled up this man’s geography to note his hands, also huge and battered and then his
eyes. The saddest pair of eyes he had seen right above a toothless mouth that
smiled when Vissoto’s finally saw him.
Vissoto asked: Can I buy you a cachaça? With cachaça in
hand the two men sat to talk. The worker told his story. Yes he had bought a piece of land. No
he wasn’t going anywhere. This city was his land now. Two hours later, Vissoto got home and told
himself: that’s my Saint Francis.
Work began in 1997, in the year the Governor of the State
was the world famous architect Jaime Lerner, the man responsible for putting Curitiba on the world's map of successful cities. When dedication finally came, the Bishop, the Mayor and the
press were there. Out of courtesy, Vissoto decided to lift the canvas that kept
his work of art from view and let Bishop Olivio Fazza see his work first.
- "What is
that Giovanni? That ain't no Saint Francis. All you had to do was
follow the drawing that the Church gave you", the bishop reprimanded, kind of. Giovanni tells whomever wants to
hear that he called the bishop aside and told him the story of the big-toed,
nealy barefoot dam constructor. Poorer than Him and yet happy with life I can
only think of Saint Francis. That was a short and direct way to Bishop Olívio's heart. The Bishop blessed Vissoto’s Saint Francis and
told him that God has his own ways of
talking to artists.
Twenty years later 2020
The Saint Francis of the Morumbi, former São Francisco
area has been reformed, strengthened and made ready to stand another 100 years,
as Vissoto says. After years of abandon the Saint Francis has been basically resurrected.
He now got blue eyes. He has a couple of doves in his hands and a deer follows him on
his right side. On his left there are two coatimundis like those seen in the
Iguassu Falls / National Park.
The statue is ready. It has not been officially dedicated yet because the Prefeitura (City Hall) is waiting for something. It seems that Saint Francis will get a little garden around him with benches so that if someone wants to pray may go ahead and do it. “The bairro (district) began to grow around the saint”, says Vissoto. In the days prior to the approval the people that live around the Saint organized a prayer event with a mass so that things would turn out all right.
Note: Due to Covid 19 there has been no offcial public dedication for the restored statue as of September, 2, 2020.
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