Caacupé: Our Lady of Miracles

This small town with a population of 20,000 attracts visitors from all over the country each year to its basilica on December 8. Caacupé is considered the religious center of Paraguay, the meeting place of the nation and the Church, and the blessed image of Mary has accompanied the formation process of Paraguayan as a nation.

Legend says that in the 16^th century, after a peasant of the Guarani Indian tribe escaped an attack from a rival tribe, he offered a statue of the Virgin he had carved himself, to a small oratory. The first shrine dates from 1770. The current basilica was built in 1940.

Feast: December 8

Pilgrims begin to arrive during the two weeks preceding the feast. Some go up to the basilica on their knees, traveling the 3 miles from the train station to the top of the hill in this fashion, singing:

"We are your people, O Virgin most pure!

We give you our love and our faith.

Give us peace and happiness,

In your Eden of Caacupé »

Saint John Paul II visited Caacupé on May 18, 1988, and entrusted the Church of Paraguay to Mary

The statue of Mary

This statue represents Mary wearing a white tunic and a blue cloak with gold embroidery. She crushes the head of a snake, a direct reference to the biblical texts of Genesis and Revelation (Gn 3: 15 and Rev 12).

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See Attilio GALLI, Madre della Chiesa dei Cinque Continenti, Ed Segno, Udine, 1997, p. 987-990