Chico Rei

A member of the Kingdom of Congo’s royal family, the African Francisco was enslaved and shipped with his wives and children to Brazil. He ended up in Ouro Preto, Minas Gerais, in the first half of the eighteenth century. After years of hard work, he not only achieved his own freedom but also started to buy the manumission of other people. It is said that Francisco used to convince the enslaved to hide gold on their heads, in the middle of their hair. All donations were used by the fraternities to free more and more people and organize the Congadas. It is also said that, out of devotion, Chico Rei, as he was called, ordered the construction of the Chapel of the Rosary, where he placed an image of Saint Ephigenia.