Our Lady of Suyapa (Nuestra Señora de Suyapa), also known as the Virgin of Suyapa (Virgen de Suyapa), is a title of the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus Christ. An 18th-century cedar wood statue (6 cm) of the Virgin is perhaps the most popular religious image in Honduras and the object of extensive pilgrimage.
The statue is kept in the Basílica de Suyapa in Suyapa, a suburb of the capital Tegucigalpa, and is visited in various other parts of Honduras each year in early February. Several thousand people from all over Central America make pilgrimages to visit the statue on its name day, February 3, a commemoration of the day it was found in 1747. The statue has been stolen and recovered twice. Our Lady of Suyapa is the patron saint of Honduras.
Our Lady of Suyapa, Guardian of Honduras
There are several different versions of the discovery of the statue of the Virgin of Suyapa.
Many Hondurans believe that the statue was miraculously discovered in late January or early February 1747 by a laborer, Alejandro Colindres. Colindres and an 8-year-old boy had been sent by Colindres' mother to clear cornfields on Piligüin Mountain, northeast of Tegucigalpa. On their way back, they were caught up in darkness and decided to sleep outside. During the night, Colindres was awakened by a sharp pain in his side and discovered that he was sleeping on something.
Later versions of the story claim that without looking at the object, Colindres threw it as far as he could, only to find it beneath him as he lay back down. This detail, however, is not present in the earliest versions of the story. The next morning, Colindres discovered that he was sleeping on a tiny statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary, which he took home and placed on the family altar in his mother's house. It remained there for the next 20 years.
In 1777, a chapel was built for the statue. The first shrine of Our Lady of Suyapa was blessed in 1780. The first notable attested miracle took place in 1796.
The statue has been stolen twice. In 1986, it was stolen and stripped of its gold, silver and jewels, and left in the men's restroom of the La Terraza de Don Pepe restaurant in Tegucigalpa.
In 1925, Pope Pius XI declared her patron saint of Honduras to be Our Lady of Suyapa and chose February 3 as her feast day. In 1954, a large basilica was built next to the chapel. The statue of the Virgin spends most of its time in the chapel, but each year before her feast day, the statue is moved to the larger church to accommodate the crowds.
The statue is considered to have miraculous powers. The quick end of the football war between Honduras and El Salvador is attributed to the statue. Many Honduran soldiers involved reported visions of the Virgin, which calmed their fears during the fighting. In 1969, the Virgin of Suyapa was declared Captain General of the Honduran Armed Forces.
The statue of the Virgin of Suyapa has a group of lay guardians, all male, known as the Orden de los Caballeros de Suyapa, founded in the 20th century. They are responsible for taking care of the image and the small chapel. They escort the statue whenever it leaves the chapel to travel around Honduras, as it often does in February.
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Today, Honduras celebrates its idol and protector Our Lady of Suyapa. There legend says that the statuette was discovered by a worker, lost in the mountain in the middle of the night. #mythology #myth #legend #calendar #3February #honduras #suyapa
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