Nuestra Señora de Cocharcas
Reduscubramos Admirabilis: La devocion mariana en el Peru. Austin: La Catedral, 1999.
Country
Perú
Description
In 1598, Sebastián Quimicchi commissioned an image of Our Lady of Copacabana in gratitude for a miracle that the Blessed Mother performed for him when he was praying on the shores of Lake Titicaca in what is now Bolivia. An Incan artisan named Tito Yupanqui created the image for him and was soon flooded with similar requests from others as the cult spread. In Perú, the image took on the name of Our Lady of Cocharcas.
There is an annual festival at Andahuaylas which takes place from September 6 to the 10, organized by devotees of the image named quimichos, who carry the image in procession all over the countryside. Because of this she is known throughout Perú as the traveling virgin, and is associated with the rains and the fertility of the Earth. Her other titles include: Virgen de Cocharcas, Sanctified Virgin of the Cocharcas, with the spellings of Cocharas and Cocharcas used interchangeably.
References:
Santoro, Nicholas Joseph. Mary in Our Life: Atlas of the Names and Titles of Mary, the Mother of Jesus. Bloomington: iUniverse, 2011.
Researched by Corinne M. Woodruff
Popular Devotions
Shrine.
Annual Festivals held in her honor, including pilgrimages.
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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