Our Lady of Suyapa (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Suyapa), also known as the Virgin of Suyapa (Spanish: Virgen de Suyapa), is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary from the 18th-century made of cedar wood statue (6 cm/2.3 in) widely venerated by its devotees.

The statue is kept in the Basílica of Suyapa where many make pilgrimages to visit the statue on February 3, a commemoration of the day she was found in 1747. The statue has been stolen and then recovered on two occasions. which he took home with him and set up on the family altar in his mother's house. There it remained for the next 20 years.

By 1777, a chapel was constructed for the statue. The first shrine of our Lady of Suyapa was blessed in 1780.

Veneration

In 1953, Pope Pius XII declared her Patroness of Honduras under the namesake title, and selected February 3 as her feast day. In 1954, a large Marian shrine was built next to the chapel. The statue of the Virgin spends most of her time in the chapel, but every year before the celebration of her festival, the statue is moved into the larger church to accommodate the crowds.

The statue is considered to have miraculous powers. The swift ending of the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador is attributed to the statue. Many of the Honduran soldiers involved reported visions of the Virgin, which calmed their fears during the fighting. In 1969, the namesake was declared Captain General of the Armed Forces of Honduras. Pope John Paul II visited her shrine on the 30th anniversary in 1983. Pope Francis raised the shrine to the status of Minor Basilica in 2015.

The statue of the Virgin of Suyapa has a group of lay caretakers, all male, known as the Orden de los Caballeros de Suyapa, founded in the 20th century. They are responsible for caring for the image, and the small chapel. They escort the statue whenever it leaves the chapel to travel around Honduras, as it often does every February.

See also

  • Religion in Honduras

References

Sources

  • Barceló Morey, Jose. 2000. La Inmaculada Concepción de María en Honduras: La Inmaculada Concepción de Suyapa, Patrona de Honduras. San Pedro Sula: Editorial/Librería Coello
  • Valladares B., Juan R. 1946. La Virgen de Suyapa (historia documentada). Tegucigalpa: Tallereres Tipo-Lito.
  • Official Catholic church site Spanish
  • Virgin of Suyapa visits Honduran suburb devastated by massacre
  • Article in Spanish on sources of the story