Sr. Maria Angélica received her habit as a Cistercian nun this past January 15 at the monastery of Our Lady of Fatima in Itataré, a town in the southern Brazilian state of São Paulo.
Part of the ceremony involves the novice’s hair being cut short. A video of that moment, shared on Facebook by Michael Ledesma, has now received nearly 430,000 views, thanks in great part to the radiant joy that the young woman transmits with her smile and her gestures.
Ledesma explains, in the text accompanying the video:
Her cut hair is placed in a basket and symbolically offered to Christ.
In the video, Sr. Maria Angélica has a captivating smile, and shows visible emotion and contagious enthusiasm, so the images have inspired hundreds of thousands of Internet users both in Brazil and around the world.
It’s not clear who recorded the video. The name, date, and location of the ceremony were reported by ChurchPOP in Portuguese.
Ledesma, who according to his Facebook profile lives in New York City, has publicly shared many other Facebook posts on “the beauty of Catholicism,” showing everything from children praying to the beautiful architecture of Catholic churches around the world.
