Our Lady of the Angels
Virgen De Los Angeles, Marian holy cards collection ML. 031 Box 22, circa 1675-2018. Marian Library, University of Dayton Libraries, Dayton, Ohio.
Country
Costa Rica
Description
Our Lady of the Angels is also known by many different names, including “La Negrita,” for its dark skin and “Queen of Costa Rica.” He image was found on the day on August 2, 1635, by a woman of mixed blood called Juana Pereira who was out gathering wood. Pereira came across what she believed to be a doll standing on a rock, and she took it home with her and kept it in a box. Finally, she brought the statuette to Father Baltazar de Grado, who was the priest of Cartago at that time.
Pereira told him how she found the statuette and how, when she placed the doll in the box, it would remove itself from it and return to the rock. Father Baltazar de Grado’s interpretation of these events was that Blessed Mother did not like being kept in a tiny box and he decided not only to remove the image to the sanctuary of the church but took the rock there as well. To this day that rock produces holy water that bubbles up from underneath it.
Since August 2 is the day the Franciscans celebrated the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, she was named Our Lady of the Angels. Ever since then, the statue has also gone by different names, e.g., she was known as the Princess of Peace during the civil war in 1833. Her festival is celebrated annually on August 2, drawing in people from all across Costa Rica and even other nearby countries. On the second day of the festival, the rock is carried to Central Cartago, where it is kept in a local church for a couple of days before it is then returned to the basilica.
Reference:
Santoro, Nicholas Joseph. Mary in Our Life: Atlas of the Names and Titles of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
Researched by Michael H. Meade
Popular Devotions
Prayer:
Blessed Mother,
among the people of Costa Rica,
you were welcomed as Our Lady of the Angels.
May we preserve in announcing the message of your Son,
And never hesitate to turn to you for assurance in times of distress.
Amen. (Michaels, 19)
Michaels, Daniel T. Mary throughout Latin America. Liguori, 2005.
Hail Mary
Dios te salve, María.
Llena eres de gracia: El Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres.
Y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre: Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amen.
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