(The Dialog) — Leo XIV, the primary pope born in the US, can also be claimed by the Peruvian individuals whom he served for over 20 years as certainly one of their very own.
Then often known as Robert Francis Prevost, he lived and labored within the cities of Trujillo and Chiclayo in northern Peru. In Chiclayo he served as bishop from 2015-2023. Trujillo is just a few hours south of Chiclayo, the place the pope lived for a decade.
His ministry there’s notably thrilling to me as a result of I additionally lived in northern Peru, throughout a service 12 months with the Marianist Household between my undergraduate expertise on the College of Dayton and my first 12 months of full-time ministry. The Marianist Household was based in response to particular wants in postrevolutionary French society. Composed of lay individuals and vowed spiritual sisters, brothers and clergymen, it emphasizes devotion to Mary and a communal life-style as a particular way of life out one’s Roman Catholicism.
A few two-hour bus trip away from Trujillo lies the mountainous city of Otuzco, the place I lived with different members of the Marianist Household – a spot that may later change into a major focus of my analysis as a lay Marianist and Mariologist. A picture of Mary – La Virgen de la Puerta – now housed in a shrine church, has been honored and revered locally for over 300 years.
The shrine church of La Virgen de la Puerta.
The vast majority of those that preserve a devotional relationship with this picture, each native or from the encircling villages, are a part of the Catholic spiritual majority in Peru. However another Peruvians – together with non- Catholics, some members of the LGBTQ+ group, and others who’re marginalized, equivalent to former prisoners and migrants – additionally revere her. Most of the devotees don’t stay close to Otuzco however preserve a religious relationship with La Virgen de la Puerta.
The founding of Otuzco
The Augustinians – the spiritual congregation of brothers and clergymen that Leo XIV is a member of – settled in Otuzco in 1560.
As a part of the founding of the city, the Augustinian Fathers positioned the city below the safety of Mary, the mom of Jesus. They acquired a Spanish picture, a statue of Mary made largely of wooden, and chosen Dec. 15 to have a good time her domestically. This custom has continued since 1664, about 100 years after the Augustinian Fathers settled in Otuzco.
Regularly riddled by threats of pirates and different risks, the individuals of Otuzco prayed fervently to this picture of Mary for defense.
A Virgen de la Puerta procession within the night within the streets of Otuzco.
Caitlin Cipolla-McCulloch
Throughout one specific menace to their security, round 1670, they took this picture into the streets in procession to guard their city. They positioned this picture of Mary above the door of the church within the middle of city and known as the picture “Nuestra Señora de la Puerta” – transliterated into English: “Our Woman of the Door.”
Up to date pilgrimage in Otuzco
In fashionable occasions, the fiesta of La Virgen de la Puerta is lavishly celebrated within the city of Otuzco, the place hundreds of devoted descend upon the mountain group for the multiday fiesta patronal, a festive celebration that honors the patron saint to whom a web site is devoted or entrusted.
The fiesta patronal of La Virgen de la Puerta begins yearly on Dec. 14, with the principal day noticed on Dec. 15, and concludes on Dec. 16.
Through the days of the fiesta, the street between Trujillo and Otuzco is remodeled right into a pilgrimage route. The aim of the journey can range from pilgrim to pilgrim, but it typically displays a deeply private act of devotion.
Some pilgrims arrive from Otuzco, Trujillo and neighboring villages, whereas others journey lengthy distances – in Peru or from overseas – to honor La Virgen de la Puerta. Some pilgrims journey the roughly 50 miles (over 80 kilometers) between Trujillo and Otuzco on foot.
I personally made this journey with a gaggle of fellow pilgrims, the very individuals I used to be residing amongst and ministering with throughout my service 12 months in Peru. My pilgrimage concerned a backpack with fundamental medical provides for the group. After an in a single day stroll to Otuzco in tenting pants, a T-shirt, hat and sneakers, I arrived earlier than the picture of Mary with quarter-size blisters on my toes.
La Virgen de la Puerta procession via the streets of Otuzco.
Caitlin Cipolla-McCulloch
Some pilgrims, not like me, mark the ultimate kilometers of their journey by advancing to the shrine via the streets on their knees.
Devotion outdoors Otuzco
Along with the hundreds who descend in town of Otuzco annually for the celebration, there are those that are deeply dedicated to La Virgen de la Puerta however don’t or can not make the journey to the shrine. Their celebrations happen at occasions at a terrific distance from Otuzco.
Amongst them are members of the LGBTQ+ group, who to this present day stay marginalized in broader Peruvian and Catholic tradition. Though members of the LGBTQ+ group reside all through Peru, the neighborhood of Cerro El Pino in Lima has traditionally been the positioning of a festive celebration in honor of La Virgen de la Puerta, which many group members observe.
Differing communities include differing must La Virgen de la Puerta. The LGBTQ+ group on this specific neighborhood believes she has protected them all through their historical past. Through the early years of the AIDS epidemic within the Nineteen Nineties, when over 10% of the male inhabitants in Lima was contaminated by HIV, members of this group sought the safety of La Virgen de la Puerta for his or her bodily well being. Though some individuals died from AIDS, others continued to take part within the rituals of the fiesta to honor her safety over time, even amid their struggling. They wore particular costumes, sang and carried out the dances which were a part of the fiesta patronal for over 300 years.
Francisco Rodríguez Torres is a Peruvian photographer who lives within the capital metropolis, Lima, however has roots within the northern area the place the picture of La Virgen de la Puerta is positioned. He’s a kind of who has documented the actions of the fiesta patronal each in Otuzco and in Lima in his textual content La Mamita de Otuzco.
He writes each concerning the native devoted in addition to those that venerate the picture from a distance. In his Spanish language textual content, he has documented that La Virgen de la Puerta is taken into account a mom by teams who discover themselves on the margins of society. These teams embody those that are a part of the LGBTQ+ group, the poor, former prisoners and migrants. They “hope to search out in her gaze a comfort,” he explains.
Devotees deliver their particular petitions earlier than La Virgen de la Puerta: They ask for her help in making choices and for his or her on a regular basis wants. Some even pray for miraculous therapeutic.
Echoing this sentiment of discovering hope in La Virgen de la Puerta, Pope Francis, throughout his apostolic journey to Peru, topped La Virgen de la Puerta and gave her the title of Mom of Mercy and Hope. In his tackle throughout a particular prayer service in Trujillo on Jan. 20, 2018, Francis recounted that La Virgen de la Puerta has defended and guarded all of her youngsters all through historical past.
Leo, following the instance of Francis, has centered on the significance of dialogue and peace. In his first message from the balcony upon being introduced pope he stated that members of the Catholic Church should construct “bridges, dialogue, at all times open to obtain like this sq. with its open arms, all, all who want our charity, our presence, dialogue and love.”
I consider that La Virgen de la Puerta – a supply of mercy and hope for all her devotees, no matter whether or not they have been traditionally marginalized or excluded – provides an instance to the world group of the better unity with each other that Leo XIV is searching for to prioritize.
(Caitlin Cipolla-McCulloch, Researcher in Marianist Research, College of Dayton. The views expressed on this commentary don’t essentially mirror these of Faith Information Service.)
