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On February 3 every year, hundreds of thousands of people flock to Tegucigalpa, the Capital of Honduras, to honor the Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of Suyapa in the Basilica of that name.
The story of Our Lady of Suyapa, Patron Saint of Honduras, begins in late January or early February, 1747. At that time, a campesino by the name of Alejandro Colindres was sent by his mother to clear some corn fields on a mountain near Tegucigalpa. He took an 8-year old boy with him.
After working all day, the two headed back home. However, as nightfall came, they were too exhausted to walk any further, so they decided to sleep under the stars. During the night, Alejandro was awakened by a sharp pain in his side from sleeping on some object. When he looked at the object, it was a little statue of the Virgin Mary. In the morning, he took the little statue home with him to his mother’s house where he put it on her home altar.
Twenty years passed. Then, in 1768, miracles began to happen, and they were attributed to the little statue. By 1777, a chapel was constructed at the site of the statue.
In 1925, Pope Pius XI declared her to be the Patroness of Honduras under the title of Our Lady of Suyapa and made February 3 her feast day.
In the Twentieth Century, a magnificent new basilica was built near the old basilica to handle the tens of thousands of people who flock to this pilgrimage site. But when the people brought the little statue to the new Basilica, she did not like it, so they had to take her back to the older, smaller church. Now she only comes to the big Basilica on her feast day. A group called the Orden de Caballeros de Suyapa (Order of the Knights of Suyapa) are responsible for caring for the statue.
The statue of Our Lady of Suyapa has been captured twice and returned. Many people attribute the quick ending of the Football War between Honduras and El Salvador to the intervention of Our Lady of Suyapa, because many of the soldiers had visions of the Virgin that calmed their fears.
February 3 is a national holiday, and Our Lady of Suyapa is the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Honduras.
In the photo above, we see the Basilica of Our Lady of Suyapa in the distance. The photo was taken from the steps of the older shine where the Virgin makes her home. In between the older shrine and the basilica, there are vendors for food and religious objects. There are always poor people, too, begging for alms.
