Case file · Sacred site
Caldeirão de Santa Cruz do Deserto
In 1926, with Padre Cícero's help, the beato José Lourenço settled his religious farming community at Caldeirão dos Jesuítas near Crato, Ceará. After Cícero died in 1934 the Vargas government called it communist; it was destroyed in September 1936, and survivors were attacked by troops and aircraft on 10 May 1937.
1926 CE · -7.10, -39.52 · status: official
The account
Estimates of the dead run from the official 400 to more than 1,000, and the mass grave has never been located. José Lourenço fled to Pernambuco and died of bubonic plague. The area is now a state park; the point is approximate.
Connections in the atlas
- Santa Dica and the 'Day of Fire' at Lagolândia
- The bleeding host of Juazeiro
- Canudos (Belo Monte) and Antônio Conselheiro