The () is a Black Madonna venerated as the patron saint of Costa Rica. Also known as (), her feast day on 02 August is a national holiday. Lonely Planet
Background The image stands about , and is an indigenous or mixed race representation of the Virgin Mary.
According to tradition, the statuette was found on 2 August 1635, the feast of Our Lady of the Angels, by a native woman named Juana Pereira. When she tried to take the statuette with her, it twice miraculously reappeared where she had found it. The townspeople then built a shrine around the statuette.
In 1824, the Virgin was declared Costa Rica's patron saint. is now enclosed in gold and jewel-studded vestments and an aureole above the main altar of the Basílica de Nuestra Señora de los Ángeles in Cartago. Every 2 August, the anniversary of the statuette's discovery, pilgrims travel from San José to the basilica. Many penitents complete the last few hundred meters of the pilgrimage route on their knees. This basilica is equally visited by tourists and locals.
Pope Pius XI granted a canonical coronation of the image, which was held in 1926. In 2014, a replica of the statue was enthroned in Vatican City.
See also Black Madonna
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