Virgen del Valle: why is she considered the patron saint of sailors in Venezuela?

The Virgin of the Valley one of the most popular and widespread devotions in all of Venezuela celebrates its day every September 8th. This invocation of the Virgin Mary is especially venerated in the eastern states of the country, and is considered the patron saint of fishermen and the National Navy. Next, we tell you more about her story.

Every year, thousands of pilgrims visit the ‘Vallita’ in its sanctuary located in the Margarita Valley, near Porlamar. Arriving in 1530, this effigy is even pointed out by Monsignor Rafael Febres Cordero as “the oldest Marian invocation in all of Latin America.”

The image of the Virgin of the Valley It arrived on the island of Cubagua in 1530, after being entrusted to Spain by the inhabitants of the city of Nueva Cádiz, who were there. On December 25, 1541, the entire town was devastated by a hurricane, including the church that housed the effigy, but it was miraculously found intact.

The following year, the Virgin was transferred to a farm in the Valley of the Holy Spirit, on the Island of Margarita, where she was placed in a hermitage. It was in this area that her second great miracle occurred.

In the year 1608 there was a great drought on the island and the population decided to take this image out in procession for the first time since its arrival. Testimonies of the time assure that, when the statue crossed the gate of the city, the sky “without any signs of downpour, suddenly and rapturously began to rain copiously and without discontinuity throughout that day and the following night”.

Countless miracles have been told about the Virgin of the Valley over the centuries, including one that occurred during the Battle of Matasiete of July 31, 1817, as part of the Venezuelan War of Independence.

That day, a bullet fell into the chest of General Juan Bautista Arismendi, but it did not hit him because it was stopped by the medal of the Virgen del Valle that he carried in his pocket. In fact, legend has it that this image was at the side of the patriot army during that confrontation and healed their wounds, which is why it is also known as the Patriot Virgin.

But perhaps the best-known miracle of the Virgin of the Valley and the one that gives him fame Mother of the fishermen, It is that of Domingo, a pearl fisherman who was looking for these precious stones in the sea, but was stung by a ray on his leg and suffered gangrene as a result.

Domingo’s wife prayed to the Virgen del Valle and a few days later the fisherman’s leg was healed. As thanks, he promised the virgin to give her the first pearl she found. This had the shape of a leg and even the mark of the scar, and until now it is preserved in the Diocesan Museum of the Virgen del Valle, in Nueva Esparta.

Thousands of devotees of the Virgin of the Valley in Venezuela they usually pray a novena in his honor from the days before the festivity. On September 1, the descent and enthronement of the image takes place, while on September 8 the central mass is held with the presence of all the bishops from the east of the country.

Oh Most Holy Virgin Mary, Mother of Mercy and safe refuge of sinners! Here I come contrite and humiliated to implore your powerful patronage. I hope that your kindness receives me and reaches me from your divine Son the grace to worthily practice this devout exercise, consecrated to your worship under the title of Virgin of the Valley. I consecrate to you, then, adorable Mother, from now and forever, all the aspirations of my soul and the sighs of my heart. Prepare my spirit, oh most loving Mother! So that with living faith, with firm hope and with ardent love I consecrate myself to your service, and reach now and forever, in all the actions of my life, your powerful help and your protection.

Amen.

Humbly prostrated at your feet, oh Blessed Virgin of the Valley! I come, despite my unworthiness, to choose you as Mother, advocate and protector, before Jesus, your divine Son, to love you, honor you and serve you faithfully all the days of my life.

Get me from Jesus a living horror of sin; the grace to live and die in the most lively faith, in the most firm hope, in the most ardent and generous charity.

O Virgin of the Valley! Give me the consolation that at the hour of my death, I deliver my soul into your hands, and be led by you to glorious immortality.

Amen.

Source-larepublica.pe