OUR LADY of the ROSARY- AROUND THE WORLD

Our Lady of the Rosary of CHIQUINQUIRA is a Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image in the northern ANDES region.

Under this venerated title, the image is the Patroness of Colombia, the Venezuelan state of Zulia, and the town of Caraz in Peru. The image, painted on a cotton support, is kept in the Basílica of Our Lady of the Rosary in Chiquinquirá, where her date of Pontifical coronation is July 9.

In 1560, a Spanish painter named Alonso de Narváez painted a portrait of the Virgin of the Rosary on a homespun piece of cotton woven by the Indians. Painting in tempera, he used mineral and organic pigments taken from the soil and from herb and flower juices of the region.

The Virgin of the Rosary in the center of the painting is approximately three feet high. She looks towards her left as if to call attention to the nearly naked Child in her arms. The image has a calm countenance with a delicate smile. Both her face and the Child's are pale. The Child has a little brightly colored bird tied to his thumb and a rosary hangs from his left hand. Our Lady is supported by a crescent moon in a position suggesting the woman of the Apocalypse. A white veil covers her hair and her rose-colored robe is covered by a sky blue cape. With the little finger of her left hand she holds a rosary which hangs in front of her, and in her right hand she has a scepter. On her right stands the figure of St. Anthony of Padua, and on her left that of the Apostle St. Andrew. These were the patron saints respectively of Antonio de Santana, the Spanish colonist who had commissioned the painting, and the Dominican friar, Andres Jadaque, who had arranged for de Narváez to paint it.

Modern sculpture by Maria Lea Cerda, Venezuela

On 9 January 1910, Pope Pius X authorized the Canonical Coronation to the image which was not carried out until 9 July 1919 due to the political turmoil prevalent at the time. On July 3, 1986, Pope John Paul II visited the sanctuary and prayed for peace in Colombia at the feet of the Virgin Mary's image. The title given to the Virgin is from the city of Chiquinquirá, where the first of the Virgin's miraculous manifestations occurred, and where the original image from the sixteenth century is kept.