THE VIRGIN OF COPACABANA

THE VIRGIN OF COPACABANA

THE VIRGIN OF COPACABANA
Patron saint of Bolivia. her feast is celebrated on August 5.

The Copacabana peninsula juts into Lake Titicaca, approaching the islands of the Sun and the Moon, ancient sacred places of the Incas. There, four thousand eight meters above sea level, the Mother of God wanted to approach her children in order to attract them to the true God. She did it with the utmost delicacy and respect. She did it with the love of a Mother who is looking for her youngest children. Her face has indigenous features and is all sweetness with her Child in her arms, who seems to fall but does not. The Mother holds it safe. The Child is the great gift that the mother gives. This is how the cult of the “Holy Virgin of Candelaria, Our Lady of Copacabana” arose.

It is an effigy of little more than four feet modeled entirely in maguey paste and finished in stucco. The body of the image is completely laminated in fine gold and its clothing reproduces the colors and clothing of an Inca princess. His original form remains permanently covered by beautiful cloaks and suits. Her hair is long on her shoulders.

It was carved by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, a descendant of the Inca Huayna Capac. He was an amateur sculptor and although he put a lot of effort into his work, he was inexperienced. His first attempts were rejected one after another, until finally God rewarded him with being able to achieve this image of the Virgin that was humbly enthroned in a poor church of adobe and stones on February 2, 1583, which makes this Marian sanctuary one of the oldest in the Americas.

The current temple dates from 1805 and the image was crowned during the pontificate of Po XI. Over time, the faithful donated a large number of valuable jewels to adorn the image, and the temple was filled with gifts and treasures. Wealth that was later looted by generals, presidents and dictators of the day. Despite this, the “Coyeta”, as the Quechuas and Aymaras call it; around her neck, hands and chest, she wears rich jewels and from her ears dangle valuable earrings of precious stones given by her devotees. In her right hand she holds a basket and a baton, a gift and souvenir of the visit that the Viceroy of Peru paid her in 1669.

The original image never leaves its sanctuary and a copy of it is used for processions.
It is typical of the sanctuary, a basilica since 1949, that those who visit it leave it walking backwards, with the intention of not turning their backs on their beloved patron saint.

Her festival was originally celebrated on February 2, the day of the Purification of Mary, and then it has been moved to August 5, with its own liturgy and great popular celebration.

PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF COPACABANA

Dear Mother Our Lady of Copacabana,
you who love us and guide us every day,
you who are the most beautiful of mothers
who I love with all my heart,
I ask you once again to help me achieve a grace.
I know that you will help me and I know that you will always be with me until the hour of my death.

amn

CONSECRATION OF BOLIVIA TO THE VIRGIN OF COPACABANA

PRAYER OF HIS HOLINESS JOHN PAUL II

On Tuesday, May 10, 1988, the then Pope John Paul II consecrated Bolivia to the Virgin of Copacabana in the city of La Paz, the country’s capital. The sentence is as follows:

Holy Mother of Copacabana,
at the conclusion of this liturgical celebration
in which we have prayed together
for Bolivian families,
I implore your maternal protection over them.

You, who from your national sanctuary
You accompany with a kind look the walk of this town,
encourage with your powerful intercession
to the families of Bolivia,
that today I entrust to your care.

Protect and inspire
to the mothers of families of this noble land,
who with admirable dedication attend
and give consistency to their homes,
guide your children on the path of good
and seek their dignity in what is Christian and what is human.

Enlighten the parents too
so that they know how to always be, in their family and social life,
examples of righteousness
educators responsible for their children,
model of respect for religious and moral values
that make the family stable and healthy.

Take special care of your children so that, in imitation of Jesus,
grow in age, in wisdom and in grace,
receiving and disseminating in your own home
love and respect among all.
Shape your young heart
so that, with understanding and generosity,
strengthen the family bond,
live in obedience to Christian principles
and be so the support of your parents
and the hope of Bolivian society.

Candle, Mother, with particular tenderness
on peasant families, who suffer the scourge of poverty,
over the miners’ homes,
on the relocated, those who have neither bread nor work,
the poorest and most abandoned,
for them to experience your consolation
and the solidarity of others.

Finally teach
to all your Bolivian children,
without distinction of ethnic origin or social extraction,
fidelity to the Christian faith,
courage in adversity,
the coexistence of the identical dignity of sons and brothers,
the endeavor to improve the common homeland,
commitment to honesty and justice,
hope in a new world
where love and peace truly reign. Amen.

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