The guiding hand of God

It turns out that Big Phil Scolari is a devout Catholic. He prays daily to the Virgin of Caravaggio, who has a shrine in his home state of Rio Grande de Sul in Brazil. The Saint appeared to a farmworker in Italy in 1432, and has been cited as performing miracles for those who have asked for her intecession since then.

Apparently, before the 2002 World Cup he prayed to Our Lady of Caravaggio, and promised that he would make a pilgrimage to pray at her shrine if Brazil qualified. When they did so, he walked the ten miles from his house to the shrine in bare feet.

During the 2004 Euro championships, when his Portuguese team knocked England out, he asked the Brazilian FA to send him an icon of Our Lady of Caravaggio after Portugal’s opening game loss. They made it to the quarters. Another suspicious omen is that Pope Clement III was born Paulo Scolari. Could count against England this afternoon.

However, I bet he doesn’t go to an Opus Dei church for mass like I do. Big girl’s blouse.