Paraguay's
Blue Virgin of the Miracles at Caacupé
(Vatican
Radio) On Saturday11th of July Pope Francis will preside over Holy Mass at the
Marian Shrine of Caacupé. Here in the course of this first mass he’ll
celebrate on Paraguayan soil he’ll pray both in Spanish and the local language
Gauranί. The venue is considered to be the spiritual capital of the nation.
The
name Caacupé comes from the Guaranί language and refers to a place which
lies roughly fifty kilometres east of Asunciòn. The story goes that
one day back in the 16th century a man from the Guaranί tribe by
the name of José who belonged to the Franciscan community nearby went to look
for firewood in the forest. But while in the forest was suddenly
threatened by some men from the rival Mbayo tribe who resented his conversion
to Christianity. So fearing for his life he hid inside an empty tree trunk and
made a vow to the Mother of God that if his life were spared he would pray to
Our Lady and carve a wooden statue depicting her.
His
life was spared and so it was that he carved two statues, the smaller of
which is now housed at the Shrine of Caacupé in a Church which was built in the
late 1700’s at the will of an Irishman who was serving under Carlos III
of Spain. Curiously the very same man who received the task to expel the
Jesuits from Paraguay.
The
Virgin known as the ‘Virgencita Aszul de los Milagros’ or Blue Virgin of
Miracles draws a great number of pilgrims to the Shrine each year, in a special
way on the 8th of December . Let’s recall how when Saint John Paul II
visited this shrine in May 1988 he entrusted Paraguay to the
Immaculate Conception. A ritual Pope Francis is expected to repeat
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