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Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere participates in the traditional Saint George's Dawn celebration in Quintino.
Published on 23/04/2026 - 15:58 | Updated
Worshippers filled the main church in Quintino - Photo: Marco Antônio Lima / Rio City Hall Mayor Eduardo Cavaliere attended the celebrations in honor of Saint George at the Quintino Parish Church in Rio's North Zone in the early hours of Thursday (April 23). For the first time, the festivities were held as part of the City's Official Calendar, attracting an estimated audience of over 1,5 million faithful throughout the day. The highlight of the early morning was the unprecedented spectacle of 300 drones, which colored the Quintino sky for 20 minutes before the traditional Dawn Mass, celebrated at 5 am.
Cavaliere highlighted the saint's importance to the city:
– Saint George is a devotion from Rio de Janeiro, from Brazil. He and Saint Sebastian are the most popular saints in the city, with a deeper connection to daily life, to the life of battle, of a warrior. And this is a festival that attracts many people. From Santa Cruz to Quintino, passing through the city center. Throughout the day, the Church of Quintino gathers more than 1 million people, among stalls and feijoada (Brazilian stew) stands. It's a very important festival because it drives not only devotion but also the economy.
Operation and Organization
To ensure the smooth running of the event, the Rio de Janeiro City Hall set up a special traffic plan, involving CET-Rio (Rio de Janeiro's traffic management company), the Municipal Guard, the Secretariat of Public Order (Seop), and support from the sub-prefecture of the North Zone.
Although the celebrations began on April 19th with the religious triduum of Saint George, this Thursday concentrates the largest volume of tributes. The Solemn Mass was celebrated by Cardinal Dom Orani at 10 am. In the afternoon, the faithful walked through the streets of the neighborhood in procession. Masses continue in continuous flow until the evening, closing the cycle of tributes to the Warrior Saint in 2026.
In addition to the logistical infrastructure on the streets, the mobility of the faithful was guaranteed by an unprecedented partnership between the City Hall and SuperVia, which operated with special schedules starting in the early hours of the holiday. To facilitate access to the Dawn Mass, trains departed from Santa Cruz (3:10 am), Japeri (3:18 am) and Central do Brasil (4:00 am) bound for Quintino. Throughout the day on the 23rd, the railway system operated on a Saturday schedule, more robust than that of conventional holidays, ensuring the transportation of the contingent of 1,5 million devotees expected for the event.
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