Our Lady Of Quito
Country :
Year : 1534
This image in the capital of Ecuador is said to date from the first Spanish settlement in 1534; it has certainly been venerated there for a long time and is popularly called Our Lady of the Earthquake. It represents the Sorrowful Mother, and in the early years of the 20th century, devotion to Mary, under the title of Quito, was introduced into England by the Servite Friars in London. Pope St. 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 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. While in the refectory they saw the Blessed Mother slowly open and shut her eyes. The same miracle occurred seven times after that, in favor of the boys at school, but this time in the chapel to which the picture had been taken.
Ecclesiastical authorities investigated and ordered the picture to be transferred in procession from the college to the church of the Jesuit fathers. At the church the prodigy was repeated several times before crowds, and many conversions took place; at one time the wonder continued for three consecutive days. At Riobamba, before a reproduction, 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.
