Nuestra Señora de la Asuncion
Citation – Marian Library Postcard Collection ML.006
Country
Paraguay
Description
The bishopric of the Santísima Asunción del Paraguay was established by Pope Paul III in 1547, on the banks of the Río de la Plata. It was only centuries later, in 1740, that the townspeople commissioned an image of the Asunción. Fr. Antonio Delgadillo was put in charge of contacting craftsmen in Naples to create one image of Our Lady of the Assumption and another of Our Lady of Mercy for a nearby town. Humorously, when the statuettes arrived a year later, they got mixed up somehow, so that the Our Lady of Mercy image was blessed, consecrated and placed in the cathedral as Our Lady of the Assumption.
No one corrected the mistake, and the statuettes remain switched to this day. And so, on August 15, when the rest of the universal Church is celebrating the Feast of the Assumption, the Paraguayans are venerating Our Lady of Mercy/Assumption!
References:
Cabrera, Miguel. “Nuestra Señora de La Asunción, patrona del Paraguay.” Turismo religioso en el mundo. Accessed April 12, 2024.
Santoro, Nicholas Joseph. Mary in Our Life: Atlas of the Names and Titles of Mary, the Mother of Jesus.
Researched by Anne E. Keefe
Popular Devotions
The central festivities are on August 15th
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.
All content is used with permission
of the Marian Library at the