Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá

Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá or the Virgin of Chiquinquirá, is a Marian title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with a venerated image in the northern Andes region. She has been for centuries the highly appreciated patron saint of Colombia and adjacent regions of Venezuela, being the center of important traditional festivities at the beginning of Christmas, accompanied by local music.

Under this venerated title, the image is the patron saint of Colombia, the Venezuelan state of Zulia, and the town of Caraz in Peru.

The first and original painting of The Virgin of Chiquinquirá was made by Alonso de Narváez in 1562. Although born in the Province of Seville, he spent most of his life in colonial Colombia. This painting is kept preserved in the Basílica of Our Lady of the Rosary in the city of Chiquinquirá, Colombia. In Colombia religious devotees celebrate her date every December 26 and July 9. The image is painted on a cotton support.

The Spanish created another smaller colonial image for Venezuela, still very venerated today, which was made in 1709 and is kept in the Basilica of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá, Maracaibo. Painted on wood, located in Maracaibo, Venezuela, where it is also called La Chinita. The November 18 is the starting day when the city celebrates the traditional Feast of La Chinita with Masses, processions and Gaita music in honor of the Virgin, marks the beginning of christmas in the country.

On 9 January 1910, Pope Pius X authorised the Canonical Coronation of the image of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá in Colombia, which was not carried out until 9 July 1919 due to the political turmoil prevalent at the time. On 3 July 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.

In August 2020, the Colombian government was approved to donate a Marian image of the same namesake in the Vatican Gardens at the 18th slot.

Colombia
Pursuant to a commission received from Antonio de Santana, who had received in 1560 an encomienda of the Indians of Suta, 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 pigments from the soil and organic juices from local herbs and flowers.

In 1562, the portrait was placed in a chapel with a roof that leaked, and in time the humidity, air, and sun had damaged the painting, leaving the subject unrecognisable. In 1577, the worn painting was moved to Chiquinquirá and left abandoned in a room that had formerly been a family oratory. Eight years later, María Ramos, a pious Spaniard from Seville, refurbished the modest chapel and enshrined the faded painting in it. Tradition has it that the miraculous restoration of the painting occurred on Friday, 26 December 1586: scratches and holes in the cotton were gradually sealed, with light and colour overlaying them. The image stood out again, having recovered its vivacity and brightness.

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 Christ Child in her arms. She has a calm countenance with a delicate smile. Both her face and the Child's are pale. The Child has a small, brightly coloured bird tied to his thumb, and a rosary hangs from his left hand. A white veil covers her hair, and her rose-tinted robe is covered by a sky-blue cape. The Virgin stands on a crescent moon, suggesting she is the Woman of the Apocalypse. With the little finger of her left hand, she holds a rosary which hangs in front of her, and in her right hand is a scepter. On her right stands the figure of Saint Anthony of Padua, in the Franciscan habit and holding his usual a book with a vision of the Child Jesus atop, and on her left is the Apostle Saint Andrew, carrying his X-shaped cross. These were the patron saints respectively of Antonio de Santana, the Spanish colonist who had commissioned the painting, and the Dominican friar, Andrés Jadaque, who had arranged for De Narváez to paint it.

The figures appear blurred up close, but seem clearer when viewed from a distance. The painting has markedly deteriorated through various causes which were assessed by Cecilia Álvarez White during a technical examination of the painting in 1986. These include the lack of any prepared ground to size the cotton support, the method of painting, and the nature of the pigments used which tend to degrade after exposure to light and humidity. Álvarez White concluded that the single greatest cause of pictorial degradation occurred over the 50 years preceding her examination, when the painting was exposed to more or less continuous, intense electric light. In addition, for three hundred years the image of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá was exposed to the faithful without any protection, permitting thousands to touch the flimsy cloth. Since 1897, a thick glass cover has protected the painting from inclement weather and the excessive touch of devotees.

Story of the prodigy
One day in November 1709 (1749 according to other versions), a woman washing her clothes by the shores of Lake Maracaibo saw a small, wooden tablet floating towards her. She picked it up thinking it might be of some use, and took it home with her, along with the clothes. The following morning while preparing coffee, she heard knocks as if somebody was calling her. She went to see and was astonished to find the tablet shining, the image of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá now upon it. A variation says the woman first saw no more than the outline of the Virgin on the tablet, and for this reason hung it on a wall of her house; on Monday, 18 November, she heard the knocking and strange noises coming from inside her house, and saw the tablet dazzlingly bright, with lights like a rainbow. Surprised and filled with strong emotion, she ran out of her house, shouting “''¡Milagro! ¡Milagro!” – hence the name "El Milagro''" (“The Miracle”) given to the avenue where the visionary's house stood. Later on, many people arrived to witness it.

From that day on, the inhabitants of the state of Zulia in Venezuela, where Maracaibo is situated, found their Queen in what they call “La Chinita”. As it has been expressed by many people, “She is the way that leads to Jesus”. To this day, the tablet, still bearing the image on it, can be seen in the Basilica of Maracaibo.

Legend has it that the government decided the image belonged in the capital city, Caracas, so they ordered it moved. As soldiers were to take the image away, it grew heavier and heavier until no man could lift it. The soldiers promptly returned it to the Basilica, where it has remained since.

Wooden tablet, crown, and square
The tablet depicting the image of the Virgin Mary was first taken to a small sanctuary built to honor San Juan de Dios and later, under the rule of the governor Francisco de la Roche Ferrer, a bigger chapel was erected to venerate the newly found image of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá. The tablet remained there until the final stage of the Basilica, the basilica was completed in 1858.

The tablet is relatively small. The dimensions are: 26 centimeters wide by 25 centimeters long and 3 millimeters deep. The Virgin Mary holds the baby Jesus in her left arm. To her left is the Apostle Saint Andrew holding an open book, and to her right Saint Anthony holding a lily (a symbol of chastity) in his right hand. The tablet was restored and preserved, and embellished with 18-carat gold engraving to magnify its beauty.

The crown suspended above the tablet weighs 10 kilograms and it was made of 18-carat gold, donated by the public. Its inner arch measures 27 centimeters by 44 centimeters and a number of precious stones were embedded. It is one of the most highly prized relics in all of Zulia. By the time the crown was made it cost around 250 thousand bolívars. In the year 2004, the local government inaugurated the “Square of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquirá”, an open sanctuary reminiscent of the old times. The great monument of the Virgin of Chiquinquirá is located exactly where the washer woman's house once was. The total area of the square is 30 thousand square meters whose epicenter is a 15-meter-high allegorical statue of the Virgin Mary. There are also three mirror-like fountains as well as a smaller square devoted to Saint Sebastian, the patron saint of Maracaibo.

Annual celebration
The people of Maracaibo celebrate the Chinita's fair in November with an all-night party. One of the main city avenues, Bella Vista, is closed for several blocks and the city puts lights all along the avenue. The lights stay up for months, until after Christmas. There are stages set up, sponsored by the government and businesses around the city. There are firework shows and street vendors, and hundreds of thousands of people line the streets and celebrate all night.

The Chinita's fair officially begins on the last Saturday in October when the Virgin is taken down from the altar in which she rests. She tours throughout Zulia State and returns to the Basilica to start all the religious festivities. Around November 6, Bella Vista Avenue sees itself lit up by Christmas decorations, and the local government promotes a series of public concerts with national and international artists to begin the “real” fair. Crowds of people flock together at the different stages or platforms devised to house such concerts.

Other cultural activities are held during the fair. Expo-Zulia is a temporary marketplace where the Zulians show numerous products that characterize the state. Many merchants, stores, companies and artisans offer their products at reasonably low prices. Bullfights are popular, with a number held in the local bullring. The “Toros coleados” finds many “gaiteros” in front of the basilica singing their best gaitas in honor of Our Lady, keeping alive a long-standing tradition of folk music.

The celebrations mark the first salvo of a long Christmas season within Venezuela.

The 17th and 18th of November
The last two days of La Chinita's fair are most special. During these days the great parties around the city are held. By the afternoon of the 17th many people enjoy the multiple concerts and gaita bands that sing in the pubs, clubs and discos. The party begins on the 17th and lasts into the early morning hours of the 18th, with the “Gaitero Daybreak”. Many people go to the Chinita's baseball game right after this traditional party and to the “Toros coleados” in the afternoon.

Pontifical approbations

 * Pope Pius VII declared her Patroness of Colombia in 1829, with a proper liturgical feast.
 * Pope Pius X granted the image a Canonical coronation on 9 January 1910.
 * Pope Benedict XV carried over the decree on 9 July 1919 due to preparations and political climate in the country.
 * Pope Pius XI raised her sanctuary to a minor basilica in 1927.

The feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary of Chiquinquira, Patroness of Colombia is July 9, her actual day of coronation.

Veneration
In March 2008, the Colombian daily El Tiempo reported that a crisis that could have ended in an open conflict between Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela was averted by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe confiding the situation to the intercession of Mary under the three different titles by which she is the countries’ patroness. The crisis started on March 1, when Uribe ordered a military raid into Ecuador's territory, against a rebel camp used by Marxist guerrillas to launch terrorist strikes. In response, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa cut all diplomatic relationships with Colombia. Venezuela's Hugo Chávez, Correa's political ally, ordered a massive military surge to the Colombian border as well. Quoting Fr. Julio Solórzano, Chaplain of Colombia's Presidential Palace, El Tiempo revealed that on March 5, with tensions increasing, President Uribe called for a Rosary to pray for the end of tensions. The Rosary, prayed at the Presidential Palace's chapel, was dedicated, upon Uribe's request, to Our Lady of Chiquinquira, Our Lady of Coromoto, and Our Lady of Mercy, respectively the patronesses of Colombia, Venezuela, and Ecuador. Uribe invited all officials at the Presidential palace to the Rosary, as well as the minister of Defense and the Interior. “For believers – El Tiempo wrote – the prayer was more than effective, since only two days later the presidents of the three countries shook hands, during the Group of Rio summit.” On April 7, at the Dominican Republic summit, the three presidents vented their differences, but agreed to stand down after Colombia apologized for the raid.