How one man's dream led to 50,000 pilgrims honoring Our Lady of Copacabana in Bolivia

Winnipeg Free Press

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COPACABANA, Bolivia (AP) — More than 50,000 people from Bolivia and neighboring Peru make a pilgrimage every August to Copacabana, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, to honor Bolivia's patron saint, Our Lady of Copacabana. In the main event of the celebration, a replica of the wooden-carved figure of the Virgin Mary leads a procession.
Her official feast is Feb. 2 — coinciding with Candlemas — but Aug. 5 marks the anniversary of her canonical coronation as the patron saint of Bolivia by a papal bull issued by Pius XII in 1925. This year is the 100th anniversary.
'She has granted me various miracles,' said Elizabet Valdivia, who traveled 12 hours by road and boat from the Peruvian city of Arequipa to join the procession. 'She gave us our car, the possibility of raising my son, and I always ask her to watch over our jobs.'
The birth of a sacred icon
Our Lady of Copacabana's basilica has safeguarded this Virgin Mary figure since the late 16th century. Her history dates back to 1583, when Inca descendant Francisco Tito Yupanqui crafted a figure in her honor.
According to Marcela Cruz, a guide at the museum next to the basilica, Yupanqui had a dream about the Virgin and molded a clay figure to depict her. He showed it to the chaplain, but after being rejected and mocked, he went for a walk by the lake.
'There, he encountered the image of the Virgin as an Inca maiden,' Cruz said. 'That's why her image is so simple.'
Inspired by the apparition, Yupanqui set off for the city of Potosí, about 330 miles (530 kilometers) from La Paz, the current capital city. There, he carved the image that is now revered in the basilica from a maguey tree trunk.
When Yupanqui traveled back to Copacabana, the town was under Spanish occupation, and both the Aymara and Quechua Indigenous people — now nationals from Bolivia and Peru — were at the site for evangelization purposes.
'She arrived at dawn on Feb. 2, and both the Aymara and the Incas bowed down to welcome her,' Cruz said.
A shrine of faith, gratitude and generations of prayer
The museum named after Yupanqui displays hundreds of gifts that devotees have presented over the centuries. These include capes embroidered with gold thread, votive offerings, letters in braille and silver crowns resembling those Simón Bolívar melted down to secure Bolivian independence in 1825.
'Our Lady of Copacabana is the mother who welcomes all of her children regardless of their race or culture,' said Itamar Pesoa, a Franciscan friar residing at the convent adjacent to the basilica. 'Within Bolivia, she is the queen.'
According to Pesoa, pilgrims travel from all over South America to present her with offerings. Some women who were unable to have children thank her for enabling them to become mothers. Others praise her for helping them recover from serious illnesses.
Several Masses in her honor are celebrated daily starting Aug. 4.
'This devotion continues to be passed down from generation to generation and inspires many to follow Christ,' Pesoa said.
Yupanqui's original figure has not left the basilica for a procession since her coronation in 1925, but devotees revere her replicas nonetheless.
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In a nearby chapel, parishioners light candles — one per miracle requested — and patiently wait for them to burn out before leaving.
Sandra Benavides, who traveled from the Peruvian city of Cuzco, lit a candle and prayed for good health. She said some years ago she fell and the accident nearly killed her, but the Virgin interceded.
'Our Lady of Copacabana is miraculous,' Benavides said. 'She is as if she were my mother, whom I have never had.'
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