After 84 Years of Marriage, This Couple Just Broke a Record, and Share Some Great Advice
Now, crowned with the Guinness World Record for the longest-living marriage, they don’t talk about grand gestures or extravagant declarations of love. They talk about faithfulness, patience, and listening to the Word together in the evening, the sound of the radio filling the quiet of their home as their fingers rest near one another, worn but steady.
Love Is Their Secret
And when asked about the secret to all these years, Maria doesn’t hesitate. She doesn’t list a dozen rules or recount struggles. Instead, she smiles, tilts her head just slightly, and says it as if it’s the simplest thing in the world:
“Love.”
Their story began in the fields of Ceará, Brazil, under a sun that saw the first flicker of their love before anyone else did. Manoel was just a young man collecting rapaduras, traditional Brazilian sugarcane candy when he first laid eyes on Maria. It would take years before their paths came together, but when they did, Manoel knew. He worked to win her family’s approval, not with words but with actions—laying bricks for the home he dreamed of sharing with her, proving with his hands what his heart already knew.
Love, he showed, is something you build.
They Worked Side by Side
Together, they worked the land, raising crops and children, cultivating not just fields but a life. Thirteen children, fifty-five grandchildren, sixty great-grandchildren, and fourteen great-great-grandchildren later, their legacy stands taller than any house ever built.
But love isn’t just found in the grand numbers or milestones—it’s found in the quiet rituals, in the slow, steady faithfulness of everyday life.
Even now, at 101, Maria still smiles at her husband the way she did when she was just a young bride of 17.
Even now, at 105, Manoel still rises in the evening, steadying himself for their sacred routine of prayer.
What Is the Secret for Such a Long Marriage?
So what is the secret to 84 years?
It isn’t complicated. It isn’t something only a lucky few find.
"Patience," Maria says. "Faith."
And then, softly, again, "Love."
Not the kind that wavers when the storms come. Not the kind that demands perfection. But the kind that stays, that holds on, that chooses to sit beside each other at the end of every day, listening to the Bible, listening to life, listening to the sound of their hearts beating—still together.
1 Corinthians 13:7-8 "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."
This content originally appeared on GodTube.com; used with permission.
Photo Credit: ©Facebook/Guinness World Record
Originally published March 05, 2025.
