Title: Our Lady of Caacupe (statue) - La Virgen de los Milagros (the Virgin of Miracles) - Virgen Azul de Paraguay (the Blue Virgin of Paraguay) Feast Day: December 8 In the early XVI century, a guarani converted Indian of the Franciscan mission of Tobati, is in danger of death. He is surrounded by the fierce mbayáes, a tribe which has refused to accept the Christian faith and has declared itself an all out enemy of the converts. In the forest thickness a massive tree trunk provides safe refuge. He hides there, cringing and trembling; he asks for protection from his Mother in Heaven, the Immaculate that the good friars have taught him to love. There he promises the Virgin that if he survives, he will carve a pretty image with the wood of the protective trunk. Nobody saw him, his persecutors went by without discovering his presence, and as soon as he could the Indian sculptor went back and took from the tree the wood he needed for his work. Two images came out of the trunk; the larger one went to the church of Tobati, and the Indian kept the smaller one for his personal devotion. Years later the great flood that created the Lake of Ypacaray threatened to destroy the nearby towns and the Franciscan friars, accompanied by the inhabitants of the region, organized public prayers pleading for the calming of the waters. It is related that Father Luis de Bolaños blessed the waters and was recognised as the one the Indian had carved years earlier, and which from then on was called La Virgen de los Milagros (the Virgin of Miracles). Our Lady of Caacupé is a handsome wood carving with a delicate oval face and blue eyes; like the lmmaculate she joins her hands on her breast in prayer and her blond hair falls to her shoulders. The small image measures some 50 centimeters. For a time, in order to give her more prominence and cover her with rich garments, her figure was enlarged disproportionately, until Church authorities decreed that the image be given its original size. The Virgin of the Miracles wears an elegant white tunic and has a beautiful sky blue cloak over her shoulders, both embroidered with gold thread. The image stands on a sphere resting on a large half moon. Marys feet seem to step on a serpent, an allusion to Genesis and Apocalyptic texts. Construction of the present church began in 1945, and although it has not been completed yet, it has been the sanctuary of the Virgin of the Miracles of Caacupé since 1980. Caacupé is the religious center of Paraguay: the meeting place of the nation and the Church, because this blessed image has accompanied the formation process of the Paraguayan nationality. Every eighth of December, the great feast of Maria de Caacupé, thousands of pilgrims congregate at the Virgins sanctuary; they come walking, on bicycles or however they can, to show their love and gratitude to their Mother, the Virgen Azul de Paraguay (the Blue Virgin of Paraguay).
Posted on: Mon, 08 Dec 2014 16:20:44 +0000