Pilgrims’ Personal Stories of Faith from 2025 Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Muxima Shrine in Angola

“In other places, She has other names, but here she is, Mother Muxima. It is here that I meet her,” she told ACI Africa.

She continued, “I am not an orphan of a deceased mother but of a living mother who abandoned me. I cry every day, but thanks to God, I continue firm, with faith.”

Other pilgrims also shared their motivations for the long journey. 

Catarina Manuel João, who traveled nearly 400 kilometers from the Diocese of Ndalatando, described the pilgrimage as a search for “life, health, peace, and tranquility.” 

She urged others to make the effort, affirming that “nobody returns empty-handed from the house of Mother Muxima.”

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Inácio Joana Loneke, a fisherman from the Diocese of Viana, prayed for employment and health.

“I would like to find work to support my family,” he said, adding that his hopes rest on the Virgin Mary’s intercession.

Elizandra Boa Ventura, also from Ndalatando Diocese, prayed especially for the well-being of her parents and sisters, while Abreu Salomão, experiencing the pilgrimage for the first time, praised the hospitality and organization. 

For him, it was a moment “to pray, grow spiritually, and ask for peace, love, and protection for the family.”

Considered the most popular place of pilgrimage and worship in Angola, the Shrine of Our Lady of Muxima is located some 130 kilometers from the country’s capital city, Luanda, and sits on the edge of the Kwanza River.

Every year, the Shrine attracts local and foreign pilgrims. In the local Kimbundu language, “Muxima” means heart, a name given to the Shrine due to its prime location in the middle (heart) of the province.

The village of Muxima was occupied by the Portuguese in 1589. They built a fortress and the Church of Nossa Senhora da Conceição da Muxima.

A popular place of devotion to our Lady from one generation to the next, the Marian pilgrimage received a boost when Angola’s Catholic Diocese of Viana was created in 2007, inaugurating a new phase in the history of the Shrine.

João Vissesse is an Angolan Journalist with a passion and rich experience in Catholic Church Communication and Media Apostolate.