In popular religiosity, Saint Ovídio is a lawyer against ear diseases. Thus, the people make him promises of offerings – money, wax objects, namely, ears and heads – in the expectation of being reciprocated and the illnesses cured.

Santo Ovídio is venerated in a beautiful chapel located on top of the hill of the same name, at the entrance to the city, which dates, in its current configuration, from 1872 and is still an important place of worship and pilgrimage. However, there was already a hermitage on the site, referred to by the documentation, which must have Christianized some pagan cult existing there. In the third quarter of the 19th century, it was found that the hermitage did not have the capacity to celebrate religious ceremonies in honor of the Saint, so the brotherhood decided to expand the chapel and the surrounding churchyard, at which point it was made the imposing staircase that gives access to the temple, thus facilitating the access of the devotees. Coming from time immemorial, the festival of the pilgrimage of the Saint, which always took place on the third Sunday of August, takes place, as today, a little further down, in the so-called “Carvalhal or Devesa de Santo Ovídio”. There are three images in the Chapel: that of the patron saint, that of S. Brás, in honor of whom an annual feast is held in Santo Ovídio, on the first weekend of February, and that of S. Bento.

Santo Ovídio, or Ouvido, is one of the martyrs of Christianity, linked to the beginnings of the Church of Braga. Born in Sicily (Italy), Pope Clement I sent him to Braga, where he was the third bishop, in 95. He died as a martyr in 135 and is buried in the Cathedral of Braga.

Source: http://www.portoenorte.pt/pt/o-que-fazer/festa-de-santo-ovidio/

Image source: Municipality of Fafe