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What People Are Asking
On Our Lady of the Cloud in Quito
Dear TIA,
In September I had the honor to be on the Chicago Archdiocese's tour of five churches in Chicago. At one o f the Churches, there was an Ecuadorian devotion (statue with candles) to Our Lady of the Cloud. When I telephoned the parish, the lady had no knowledge of this devotion. Is this devotion the same as Our Lady of Good Success? If not, would anyone at Tradition in Action know of this title? It's been driving me "nuts!"
I have tried that parish's website, the Archdiocese website, the online Catholic encyclopedia, Catholic Information services website, etc... When I google or yahoo "Our Lady of the Clouds" I get all sorts of websites about traveling to Ecuador or Ecuadorian weather reports!
Please help, if possible. Thank you very much!
Sincerely,
C.C.
TIA responds:
Dear C.C.
The devotion to The Virgin of the Cloud, La Virgen de la Nube, is from Ecuador. It originated 85 years after the Archbishop of Quito blessed the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success on February 2, 1611. Here is the story of the miracle of Our Lady of the Cloud.
At the end of the year 1696, the Bishop of Quito, Don Sancho de Andrade y Figueroa, was very ill. Disconsolate at the thought of losing their Bishop, the people of Guápulo, a village on the outskirts of Quito, decided to organize a novena to the Virgin Mary asking her for his recovery.
Our Lady of the Cloud |
On December 30, they organized a Rosary procession from the town of Guápulo to the Cathedral in Quito. On the return trip, at around 4:30 in the afternoon, Fr. José de Ulloa y la Cadena, chaplain of the Monastery of the Immaculate Conception of Quito, was leading the group in the praying of the Rosary. He was just beginning to recite the third decade of the Glorious Mysteries when he looked up and saw a figure forming in a large cloud in the late afternoon sky. He pointed to the east and exclaimed to the crowd: “The Virgin! The Virgin!”
In the sky between the sanctuaries of Guápulo and Quito, the Blessed Virgin appeared standing on a cloud somewhat darker and denser than the others, which served as her pedestal. She wore a crown on her head and carried a bunch of lilies in her right hand like a scepter. In her left hand she carried her Divine Son. She was dressed in a white silk tunic that draped to her feet in soft pleats, half hidden by a majestic mantle. On her head was a long filmy white veil.
This apparition, which was viewed by the close to 500 persons in the procession as well as many others in the environs of Quito, lasted for the length of a Glory be and the praying of one Our Father and one Hail Mary. Testimonies of the miracle include those of the President of the Royal Chamber Don Mateo de Mata Ponce de León and other respected town officials. All the testimonies are carefully conserved today in the Archives of the Quito Archdiocese.
As confirmation of the miracle, the Bishop was immediately healed. Soon afterward, he authorized the cult to the Virgin under the invocation The Virgin of the Cloud, and erected an altar to her in the Cathedral of Quito. The Bishop, who remained very devoted to the Blessed Virgin and the Rosary, lived some years more, dying in May of 1702.
Above, the annual procession in Azogues, Ecuador to honor La Virgen de la Nube |
News of the miracle spread rapidly throughout that province and soon arrived in Peru. Some years later, the Prioress of the Monastery of the Nazarene Mothers, Mother Barbara Josefa of the Holy Trinity, received permission for a picture painted on linen of the Virgin of the Cloud to be carried in the annual October procession through the streets of Lima. This invocation to Our Lady remains very popular in Lima today.
In Ecuador, a grand procession honoring the Virgin of the Cloud is held every year on January 1 in the city of Azogues. It is organized by the Franciscans who constructed a large sanctuary in that city dedicated to the Virgin of the Cloud.
This devotion has also spread to the United States. Immigrants from Ecuador in Chicago and New York have confraternities dedicated to Our Lady of the Cloud and have annual festivities in her honor. On December 17, 2006, the Congregacion Azogues New York (CANY) sponsored a Mass dedicated to the Virgin of the Cloud at St. Patrick's Cathedral in downtown Manhattan.
The following is a prayer to La Virgen de la Nube:
O Miraculous Virgin of the Cloud! Mother of Jesus and our Mother, we greet thee with all the affection of our hearts. We desire that on this day we should do nothing to displease thee. We want to honor thee as the Angels in Heaven honor thee, praise thee with all the just, and serve thee with the faith and devotion of thy true children. Mother of mercy, supply for our poverty and misery. We are not worthy that the Mother of God come to our house. Our Lord and our God, we repent the sins and wrongdoings of our past with our whole heart.
Pardon us, O Lord, and makes us worthy of the mercies and blessings of Mary, Thy Holy Mother. Blessed Virgin of the Cloud, supply the remedies for our needs. Keep us away from evil, impurity, coldness in thy service, and the appeal of the world. Give us success in our enterprises. Bless us in our work. Cure us in our sicknesses. Free us from the enemies and give us peace of heart. Help us in our poverty and console us in our suffering. To thee we consecrate our whole house with all that we have - our parents, our children, our spouses, and all our goods belong to thee today and always.
Receive us, o most sweet Virgin, under thy protection and care, so that having conquered the world, the Devil and the flesh, we can love and serve thee in this life, and afterward sing thy praises in the celestial homeland. Amen.
We hope this information will answer your request.
Cordially,
TIA correspondence desk
Posted November 23, 2007
Related Topics of Interest
Questions about Our Lady of Good Success
Our Lady of Las Lajas
The Prophetic Mission of Mother Mariana
Our Lady of Good Success and Our Lady of Fatima
The Fourth Apparition of Our Lady of Good Success
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