The Divine Pastoress

Santa Rosa, Venezuela (1736)

Around 1736, the pastor of Santa Rosa Catholic Church, in the town of the same name in central Venezuela, ordered a statue of the Immaculate Conception, but instead got a Holy Shepherdess statue ordered by a nearby church.

He immediately tried to send the statue along to its proper destination, but it suddenly became so heavy that it couldn't be moved. And so Santa Rosa kept the Divina Pastora, who became the patron saint of the state of Lara. On January 14, 1855, the statue was carried in procession during a cholera epidemic, which ended that day. Now every January 14 a team of men carry the statues of the Holy Shepherdess, Child Jesus and sheep in a large procession to the cathedral.

 

Text and image used with permission
Source: "365 Days with Mary" by Michael O'Neill 

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