- There are 372 years of devotion, since she appeared to the Indian Coromoto, in Guanare, in 1652. On this day she was canonically crowned. Her devotees, in Venezuela and the world, thank her for her intercession to receive different miracles.
On September 11, the Catholic Church in Venezuela celebrates 72 years since the canonical coronation of its patron saint, Our Lady of Coromoto.
It is a devotion with almost four centuries of history that dates back to September 8, 1651, when she appeared for the first time to Chief Coromoto, of the Cospes Indian tribe.
“It is a very beautiful moment to honor the Mother of God. A moment of grace and blessing. A moment of unity with Mary. Love for our mother is a precious characteristic of Venezuelans,” said to national media on September 8, the Apostolic Nuncio in Venezuela, Monsignor Alberto Ortega, of Spanish origin, who arrived in the country in July.
The Catholic Church has recognized only four Marian apparitions. In Europe: Our Lady of Lourdes, in France; and Our Lady of Fatima, in Portugal. In Latin America: Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico, and Our Lady of Coromoto, in Venezuela.
“The Virgin always brings a message of hope, of joy, of knowing that despite the difficult times that a Christian may be experiencing, one can move forward. She lived through difficult times. In the biblical story we see her going through moments of pain, of uncertainty… but she is the mother who shows us that through faith, we can move forward. That is the message that the mother brings us,” comments, for his part, Monsignor Owaldo Araque, bishop of the Diocese of Guanare, Portuguesa state.
In the country, the Virgin of Coromoto is celebrated on three dates: September 8, the day of her apparition; September 11, the day of her canonical pontifical coronation; and February 2, when the transfer of the image from Soropo (where the Indians guarded the image for the first years) to the Cathedral of Guanare is commemorated, where it was displayed for the veneration of its faithful from 1654 until 1996, when the Votive Temple Sanctuary Minor Basilica of Our Lady of Coromoto was inaugurated, erected on the exact site of the second apparition, 25 kilometers from the city.
It is said that the Liberator Simón Bolívar, on May 24, 1821, visited the Cathedral of Guanare, where that relic was. There he knelt down and implored the help of the Virgin of Coromoto, asking her for the triumph of the battle he would have in Carabobo. He made the request a month before the great Battle of Carabobo that sealed the independence of the country.
On horseback, on bicycle, running, in a car or on foot, many people come to the temple to give thanks for her protection and intercession before God. This year, in that temple, last Sunday, September 8, more than 120 thousand devotees gathered, according to figures from the Government of Portuguesa, to venerate her and ask for her intercession.
“We came to greet our mother, our virgin of the plains. With much faith and hope. To place in her blessed heart all the hope of our people, our desires and needs,” he said. The Diary a faithful one.
We pray for world peace, especially for the sick who right now need God to pass his healing hand over them,” says another devotee.
This Marian devotion is celebrated inside and outside the country. “I am from the Andes, but I came to Guanare many years ago and I feel a great devotion to the Virgin of Coromoto. Thanks to her, I am healed. I had a varicocele problem in my leg and the Blessed Virgin granted me a miracle,” says one of her devotees, who walked approximately 5 kilometers to reach the Sanctuary of the Virgin, as a gesture of gratitude for the favors granted.
The president of the World Apostolate of Our Lady of Coromoto, María García De Fleury, explains that this devotion has spread to at least 124 cities around the world, in countries such as Australia, Spain, the Philippines, Italy, France, Belgium, Germany, Switzerland and Africa.
It was on May 1, 1942 when the Venezuelan bishops unanimously decreed and officially proclaimed Our Lady of Coromoto as the Patroness of Venezuela. Two years later, on October 7, 1944, Pope Pius XII confirmed the desire of the Venezuelans that had resonated in the voice of the episcopate, constituting the Blessed Virgin of Coromoto as the “Celestial and Principal Patroness of Venezuela.”
Eight years later, on September 11, 1952, Cardinal Manuel Arteaga Betancourt crowned the Sacred Image of Our Lady of Coromoto in Guanare, Portuguesa state, in obedience to the mandate of His Holiness.
Thus the Venezuelan Church demonstrated and reaffirmed that this Marian image had moved thousands of faithful to a sincere veneration of the Mother of God for many years.
The story
According to tradition, the chief Coromoto was walking with his wife through the mountains and, upon reaching a ravine, he saw a “beautiful lady” holding a child in her hands who was walking through the waters of the river. On that occasion, she asked them to be baptized: “Go to the whites’ house and ask her to pour water on your head so you can go to heaven.”
A year later, on September 8, 1652, the Virgin appeared to the Indian Coromoto again, this time in his hut. The chief tried to grab her. At that moment, the woman disappeared. When he opened his hand, the chief saw that he was holding a tiny image of the Virgin that was emitting very intense rays of light.
A nephew of the Chief, in order to preserve it, sought out three Spaniards who recognized the image of the Virgin with the child. With great care and devotion, knowing that they were carrying the mother of God, they returned to Soropo, placed it on a table, surrounded it with flowers, lit a tallow candle, prayed to it and gave it the name: Our Lady of Coromoto.
The Virgin in Venezuela
There are only two cases in the world in which the Virgin leaves a relic: in Guadalupe, Mexico, in 1531; and in Guanare, Venezuela, in 1652. Both respond to what is known as Mariofanía. That is, a manifestation of the living Virgin.
“It is not an engraving or a human work. The relic that the Virgin left to the chief Coromoto comes directly from heaven,” says García de Fleury.
In March 2009, with the authorization of the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, a team of two restorers and a chemist began the restoration process of that image of the Virgin of Coromoto, which has been known since its second appearance in 1652.
These studies, according to the World Apostolate of the Virgin of Coromoto, were furthered in 2012 and 2017, and it was possible to verify that the relic given by the Virgin to Chief Coromoto is a Divine Relic, with a series of characteristics unknown to current science.
“I remember that when I approached the microscope to analyze it, I saw an eye on the other side of the lens that was looking at me. The shock was impressive. I pushed the microscope, said a bad word and ran out of there. I cried a lot and asked the Virgin for forgiveness because I didn’t believe she was there. And she told me ‘here I am’. That changed my life definitively,” says Nancy Jiménez, one of those in charge of the only restoration that the image has had, 15 years ago.
She, a scientist with more than thirty years of experience, was recently moved by her story when she shared it with national and international media, as recorded by the Archdiocese of Caracas.
“For me, as a conservator, restorer and trained in the area of recovery of old papers, what impresses me is that it still exists. It is not possible that an image from 1652, which has passed through so many hands, adorations, blessings, after so many years, exists,” he said.
The relic measures 2.5 centimetres in height and 2 centimetres in width, making it the size of a fingerprint.
“There is no doubt that this sacred image that we have in Venezuela came down from heaven. We must believe and ask with faith. It is in our land,” Jiménez said.
For many, the Virgin of Coromoto not only left, centuries ago, her image stamped on the Venezuelan plains as a symbol of national identity, but every day she continues to leave her Coromoto mark in the hearts of the faithful who with faith and joy come to her aid and protection.
In Caracas, there are at least four temples consecrated to her: the Church of Our Lady of Coromoto, in El Paraíso; the Rectory of Our Lady of Coromoto, in Vista Alegre; the Parish of Our Lady of Coromoto, in Simón Rodríguez; and the Parish of the Apparition of Our Lady of Coromoto, in La Florida.
This Saturday, September 14, a procession and open-air mass are expected to take place in the capital city. The activity will begin at 9:00 am from the San Luis Gonzaga parish, Chuao, to El Morao Street, La Transfiguración del Señor parish, in El Cafetal. The mass is scheduled to begin at 11:00 am.
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2024-09-11 14:15:10
