The phrase is one among many others attributed to
Antônio Conselheiro, founder, political and religious leader of a community in the isolated lands of Canudos, located in the state currently known as Bahia. This took place by the end of the 19th century, and they say it was the product of the government negligence towards rural areas in the Northeastern region, where poverty was rampant; so a group of people peregrinated with Conselheiro, until they'd settle into a community that managed to gather up to 30,000 people.
Along with the growth, the town would become more and more influential, to the point the local clergy and powerful landowners feared its increased autonomy. It even attracted the attention of Brazilian government at the time, and the newspapers would label them as "monarquist religious fanatics". In the end, it was completely obliterated by the army of President Prudente de Morais, and Conselheiro died (...of dysentery, according to sources).
It was no more than a village like many others. But among other things, Conselheiro's preaching against taxes turned him into an enemy of the state, and the whole thing was given messianic contours. Euclides da Cunha, a journalist from that time, narrates the story in
Os Sertões (translated in English as Rebellion in the Backlands), historically known as the
War of Canudos.
But what Conselheiro meant with that statement is vague and remains a mystery. Could even be something completely irrelevant to our current times