The devout catholic has been praying to a figurine of Elrond, mistaking it for Saint Anthony.

A freelance makeup artist from Brazil has made headlines after she discovered that her daughter’s great-grandmother had been praying to a figurine of Elrond, the elf from The Lord of the Rings films, who was played by Australian actor Hugo Weaving.

^{The figurine in question}

“My daughter’s great-grandmother prays to this figure of Saint Anthony every day,” Gabriela Brandão wrote in a post that has since gone viral, and been translated by BuzzFeed, “but looking more closely…”

After some research on the internet, she discovered the figurine in an online store and realised it was actually the elf, Elrond, and not the patron saint of lost things.

^{Saint Anthony}

Both Hugo Weaving as Elrond and Saint Anthony tend to sport long brown cloaks, so it is not difficult to see how the mistake occured. Brandão cleared up the error with her daughter’s great-grandmother. “We tried to explain right away but she didn’t understand at first,” Brandão said. “The next day we explained again and she understood and we got her a new figure of Saint Anthony.”

Brandão was surpised by the enthusiastic reaction on online. “It’s the funniest thing that ever happened to me,” she said. “I never expected any of this to happen, it’s crazy.”