6. A Religious Bandit, and the Bonnie to Lampiao’s Clyde
Lampiao was surprisingly religious, and was particularly devoted to the teachings of a priest named Father Cícero, who was famous in Northeast Brazil at the time. Not so devoted, though, as to heed Father’s Cicero’s advice, when he met him in 1926, to quit banditry. Lampiao’s tale is commonly linked with his companion, Maria Gomes de Oliveira (1910 – 1938), AKA Maria Bonita (Pretty Mary). She joined the gang in 1930 as its first female member, and had a daughter with Lampiao in 1932. Maria was born and raised in a humble family, in a small village in the backlands of Bahia. When she was fifteen, she was hitched in an arranged marriage to a cousin, a shoemaker named Ze de Nenem. It was an unhappy union, with an unfaithful and alcoholic husband who frequently beat Maria whenever she protested his adultery.
So Maria paid back her husband in kind, by cheating on him with several men. The marriage came to a definitive end when Maria met Lampiao in 1929, and fell in love with him. So she ran away to join him, and fully embraced the cangaceiro life. She lived with Lampiao for nine years as his wife, and became known among the gang as Maria do Capitao (The Captain’s [one of Lampiao’s nicknames] Maria). Known for her beauty and strong personality, Maria, unlike many women in bandit bands, was never abused by the cangaceiros. She went about in looted silk dresses, floral print gloves, sandals and ankle boots. She also wore expensive jewelry, brooches, carried silver coins, and gold ornaments decorated her hair. On her neck and wrists, she dabbed the same expensive French perfume used by Lampiao.
