Immaculate Conception of Guarda Viejo
Guatemala City, Guatemala 17th c.
In Guatemala City, the fiesta of the Guarda Viejo district on January 6 and he celebration of the Three Kings closes the Christmas season of celebration that begins with the feast of the Immaculate Conception.
The statue here is perhaps the oldest of several noteworthy images of the Immaculata in Guatemala City.
It belonged to the Franciscan Third Order and was donated to the Franciscan church in the suburban outpost of Guarda Viejo in the 1800s. Also known as the Virgin of the Holy Kings, the beloved image was re-consecrated with great ceremony by Cardinal Rodolfo Ignacio Quezada Toruño, Archbishop of Guatemala, on January 6, 2003.
Source: "365 Days with Mary" by Michael O'Neill