Deep inside a canyon in southern Colombia, an amazing image of the Blessed Virgin Mary appears on the face of a massive stone wall.
The image was not commissioned for a church or painted for public veneration. According to tradition, it was discovered after a mother and her young daughter experienced a series of miracles in this remote place.
Around 1754, María Mueses de Quiñones was traveling through the Guáitara River canyon with her daughter Rosa, who had been deaf and unable to speak from birth. When a violent storm arose, they took shelter among the large slabs of rock known as lajas.
There, Rosa suddenly spoke for the first time. Pointing toward the rock, she told her mother that a beautiful woman was calling to her. María did not see the woman, but she could not dismiss what had happened. Her daughter, who had never spoken, had found her voice.
According to the traditional account, Rosa later returned to the canyon and was found near an apparition of the Blessed Virgin and the Child Jesus. Then Rosa became gravely ill and died. Her grieving mother carried her back to the canyon and begged Our Lady to ask her Son to restore the child’s life.
Rosa revived.
When María returned to the village with her daughter, many people followed them to the canyon. There, they discovered an image upon the stone. The image depicts Mary holding the Child Jesus. St. Dominic kneels beside them, receiving the Rosary from Mary, while St. Francis of Assisi receives a cord from the Child Jesus. The crowns above Jesus and Mary were added later by local devotees.
No artist has ever been identified. Accounts associated with the shrine state that investigators found no conventional paint or pigment on the rock’s surface. The colors appeared to belong to the stone itself. A breathtaking Gothic-style basilica was eventually constructed across the canyon to enclose the image.
The world might have considered Rosa incapable of receiving or communicating a message. Our Lady did not. She met the child beyond the apparent limits of her senses and gave her a voice.
Our Lady is known under many titles. One title helps us to see her as an advocate for us in the sorrows and knots of our lives. This Our Lady Undoer of Knots Decade Rosary is a beautiful way to pray to Mary. Find yours today at The Catholic Company!
Image Source: Our Lady of Las Lajas, Wikimedia Commons, public domain.
