The cult that the Honduran people pay tribute to their Patroness, the Virgin Mary Our Lady of Suyapa, with the passage of time has experienced an increase in extension and depth. Since the discovery of the miraculous image in 1747, until the recent elevation of the sanctuary of Suyapa to the rank of minor basilica, the Honduran Catholic has been feeling increasingly closer to his Morenita.
The words of St. John Paul II on March 8, 1983, the day he crowned this image on the occasion of his pastoral trip to Honduras, express this devotion well: "The same name, Mary, modulated with different invocations, invoked with the same prayers, pronounced with identical love [...]. Here, the name of the Virgin of Suyapa has the flavor of mercy on the part of Mary and of recognition of her favors on the part of the people".
Its origins
According to the most widespread tradition, the emergence of this Marian invocation dates back to the day when a young farmer, Alejandro Colindres, accompanied by an eight-year-old boy named Jorge Martinez, was on his way to the village of Suyapa, northwest of Tegucigalpa, after a hard day's work harvesting corn. They were surprised by the night and found a good place to sleep in the Piliguín ravine. In the darkness of the night, Alejandro felt that an object, apparently a stone, prevented him from settling his back, so he picked it up and threw it away. When he lay down again he again felt the presence of the same object, but this time, intrigued, he decided to put it in his backpack. With the light of dawn he discovered that it was an image of the Virgin Mary, and decided to take it to the altar of his family, where it was venerated until, twenty years later, after the first miracle credited to the intercession of the Virgin under this invocation, funds were raised to build a chapel that was completed in 1777.
The small cedar wood sculpture is barely six and a half centimeters tall. Of dark complexion, his face is graceful, oval, with round cheeks; fine and straight nose, and small mouth; in the eyes you can guess something of the indigenous race. Her straight hair falls, parted in two, on both sides of her forehead, down to her shoulders. Her tiny hands, without intertwining, are gently clasped on her chest, in an attitude of prayer. The clothing painted on the effigy itself is a pink tunic that barely shows through the chest, as it is covered with a dark mantle adorned with golden stars. Sometimes it is covered with other vestments. She wears a crown on her head, framed by a gleam of gilded silver in the shape of a number eight, topped with twelve stars.
In 1943, the apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Tegucigalpa, Monsignor Emilio Morales Roque, decided to build a new temple for the Virgin of Suyapa. The Zúñiga-Inestroza family donated the land for the project. It was the third archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Monsignor José de la Cruz Turcios y Barahona, who began the construction of the sanctuary in 1954 when a Marian year was celebrated in the Church for the centenary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception.
It is worth recognizing that Archbishop Turcios y Barahona was a visionary since he wanted the dimensions of the temple to be adequate to contain a large number of pilgrims, something very ambitious for those years. The work was continued by the fourth archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Monsignor Héctor Enrique Santos, and concluded by Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga, current archbishop of Tegucigalpa, who officiated the solemn dedication of the church on December 8, 2004.
The design of the nave is a Latin cross, it is 93 meters long, 23 meters high and the width of the central nave is 31.50 meters. Its design is of Latin cross. Its beautiful stained glass windows depict scenes from the life of Christ and the Virgin. The capacity of the nave is 4,360 people seated and 2,000 people standing.
The place where it was erected is an area where people of scarce resources live, which enhances the closeness of the Blessed Virgin to her most needy children. Everything was done with the help of the faithful and the impulse of the last three archbishops so that it could be, as the current one wishes, a house of God's consolation for the Honduran people, who suffer so much from the consequences of violence.
Greater harmony with the Pope
In 1954 the Episcopal Conference of Honduras declared the temple of Suyapa as a National Shrine. Taking into account the trajectory of this place as a pilgrimage destination and focus of irradiation of the faith, relying on the work of the previous pastor, Hermes Sorto, and the current pastor, Carlo Magno Núñez, a request was made in 2013 to Pope Francis that it be recognized as a Minor Basilica. On September 9, 2015, Cardinal Rodríguez Maradiaga had the immense joy of announcing to the Honduran people that, on August 28, the corresponding decree had been signed. On October 28, a solemn Eucharist was celebrated to give thanks to God for this papal recognition, which places this church in the group of temples that throughout the world show the pontifical signs and represent a testimony of union with the Roman Pontiff.
Signs of vitality
There is a massive influx of pilgrims to visit the Virgin of Suyapa on February 3, her feast day. The festivities begin the night before with a majestic dawn that lasts until dawn. Although Suyapa is the center of devotion, the Queen of Honduras is celebrated not only in her Sanctuary but in all corners of the country, where reproductions of the image abound.
The Virgin is also acclaimed abroad in celebrations organized by Hondurans living in the United States and Spain on the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Suyapa. There is a reproduction of the Virgin of Suyapa in the sanctuary of Torreciudad, where she is venerated with various acts on the Sunday closest to February 3, and since 2013 there is also one, made in bronze, in the Vatican Gardens.
Several hymns sing with fervor to this invocation of the Mother of God. It is worth mentioning that the name Suyapa is frequent among Honduran women.
For the better care of the faithful, Cardinal Rodriguez Maradiaga deemed it convenient to erect two parishes and detach them from the parish of Our Lady of Suyapa. The pastoral activity carried out is intense in terms of divine worship, the celebration of the sacraments and the formation of the faithful in the biblical, theological, liturgical and moral areas, in such a way that popular piety and evangelization go hand in hand. The hermitage where the image was venerated for more than two hundred years continues to be used as part of the basilica complex, and Sunday Eucharists are celebrated there.
Assistance to the needy
The Suyapa Foundation provides assistance for the maintenance and decoration of the premises, and Cáritas Suyapa focuses on assisting the most needy.
Thirteen new side altars have recently been added to the interior of the church, corresponding to various devotions of the Honduran people, such as St. Michael the Archangel and St. Jude Thaddeus. In the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament there are now two paintings of popular devotion; the first is a canvas of Mary under the invocation so dear to Pope Francis, Our Lady Untied. In the other painting is an image of the basilica with the Virgin of Suyapa, guarded by Latin American saints, among them Monsignor Oscar Arnulfo Romero.
Finally, there are ample confessionals where the sacrament of penance is generously offered. In all certainty, during the Extraordinary Jubilee of Mercy many of the faithful will find the peace of Reconciliation, and the truth of the sentiments expressed by the holy Polish Pope will become more evident: "The name of Our Lady of Suyapa has a taste of mercy".
San Pedro Sula
