Our Lady of Quito

April 28: Our Lady of Quito, Ecuador (1534)

This miraculous image of Our Lady of Quito currently in the capital of Ecuador is said to date from the first Spanish settlement there in the year 1534. At the very least, it has certainly been venerated there for a long time, and is popularly called by the people of Quito Our Lady of the Earthquake. The painting represents the Sorrowful Mother, and in the early years of the twentieth century, devotion to Mary under the title of Our Lady of Quito was introduced into England by the Servite Friars in London. Pope Saint Pius X accorded them an indulgence for those who should pray before her picture, and the devotion was greatly promoted in England by the Sisters of the Holy Child Jesus, Mother Cornelia Connelly’s congregation. The original image at Quito was solemnly crowned in 1918.

On April 20, 1906, thirty-six boys attending the boarding school of the Jesuit Fathers at Quito, Ecuador, together with Father Andrew Roesch, witnessed the first miracle of this famous picture of Our Lady. While in the refectory they all saw the Blessed Mother slowly open and shut her eyes. The same miracle occurred no less than seven times after that, in favor of the boys at the school, but this time in the chapel to which the picture had been taken.

Our Lady of Quito

Ecclesiastical authorities soon investigated these incidents and finally concluded by ordering the picture to be transferred in procession from the college to the church of the Jesuit Fathers. Once at the church the prodigy was repeated several times before large crowds, and many, many conversions took place because of these miracles. At one time the wonder continued for three consecutive days. At Riobamba, before a faithful reproduction of Our Lady of Quito, the same wonder was seen by more than 20 persons, including the president of the city. In Quito this picture is known as the Dolorosa del Colegie.

Our Lady appeared to Mother Mariana and predicted many things about our own times. This following is part of what she told her. We can see for ourselves how it relates directly to our own time.

“…. I make it known to you that from the end of the 19th century and shortly after the middle of the 20th century…. the passions will erupt and there will be a total corruption of customs (morals)….

“They will focus principally on the children in order to sustain this general corruption. Woe to the children of these times! It will be difficult to receive the Sacrament of Baptism, and also that of Confirmation…

“As for the Sacrament of Matrimony… it will be attacked and deeply profaned… The Catholic spirit will rapidly decay; the precious light of the Faith will gradually be extinguished… Added to this will be the effects of secular education, which will be one reason for the dearth of priestly and religious vocations.

“The Sacrament of Holy Orders will be ridiculed, oppressed, and despised… The Devil will try to persecute the ministers of the Lord in every possible way; he will labor with cruel and subtle astuteness to deviate them from the spirit of their vocation and will corrupt many of them. These depraved priests, who will scandalize the Christian people, will make the hatred of bad Catholics and the enemies of the Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church fall upon all priests…

“Further, in these unhappy times, there will be unbridled luxury, which will ensnare the rest into sin and conquer innumerable frivolous souls, who will be lost. Innocence will almost no longer be found in children, nor modesty in women. In this supreme moment of need of the Church, the one who should speak will fall silent.” In a subsequent apparition, Our Lady told Mother Mariana that these apparitions were not to become generally known until the twentieth century.

*from The Woman in Orbit and other sources, roman-catholic-saints.com, Marian Calendar

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