Cruz da Menina (girl’s cross): monument honors memory of murdered child, with miracles reported

In the 1920s, the Northeast was going through a period of terrible drought. Then, a family of retreatants handed over their daughter, Francisca, to a couple to take care of so that she (the child) would not starve. This, in the state of Paraíba, in Brazil.
The donation was made in the city of Campina Grande. However, the couple who guarded the child moved to the city of Patos, in the interior of the state. Absalom the man was transferred to take care of the local public lighting.
It turns out that the woman, Domila, Francisca’s tutor, started beating her daily in a cruel way. Absalom watched everything, did not participate, but also did not take any steps to stop the abuse.
Once, Domila left the house to find her husband, and left Francisca alone. But with an order to go to sleep. It turns out that the girl stayed at the window of the house watching other children playing nearby. And he fell asleep with the window open.
Upon returning home, and in front of the painting, Domila was so enraged, and hit the child so much that she ended up killing him. It was then that she and her husband put Francisca’s body in a bag, paying a truck driver to disappear with him (the body).
So the trucker did, throwing him where he could. In this regard, the story of the child’s disappearance had already been announced by the couple themselves, with great suspicion by the neighbors. It didn’t take long and the girl’s body was found.
Despite calls for condemnation of the couple by the revolted people, politicians came to their defense. and the two returned to the city of Campina Grande. 11 years after the murder, a judge dismissed the case and managed to bring the couple to trial. But, they were acquitted.
In the place where they found the child’s body, a cross was placed. Subsequently, a farmer, benefited by a miracle by Francisca, built a chapel in his memory in 1929. Since then, the number of pilgrims has only increased each year until the chapel, today guarded by a monument built by the state government Paraíba.
Hundreds of thousands of pilgrims come to the monument in praise of the child, every year, every day. Being the place known as the Cruz da Menina, with daily reports of miracles granted by Francisca.
This is the story of Cruz da Menina in the city of Patos, Paraíba, Brazil. Place of strong religious tourism in the state of Paraíba.