Our Lady of Perpetual Help

Patrona de Valencia y Carabobo · first image crowned in Venezuela

The patron of Valencia and the Carabobo state, Our Lady of Relief was in 1910 the first Marian image canonically crowned in Venezuela - and they venerate it, curiously, in an image of Dolorosa.

Origin and history

The devotion to the Virgin of Help in Valencia dates back at least to the end of the 17th century - already in 1694 the image was venerated -, linked to the Holy Spirit's Brotherhood, erected in 1616 at the request of the city's Indians, slaves and pards. After the creation of the diocese of Valencia in 1922, he was declared patron of the diocese and of the cathedral. He received the canonical coronation in 1910, authorized by Pius X, being the first Marian image canonically crowned in Venezuela.

Although it is venerated as Our Lady of Relief, the image is iconographically a Dolorosa: tradition explains it by an error in the commission to Spain, retaining the name of Dolorosa but receiving a Dolorosa. That's why the people call her "the virgin with another name." His party, on November 13, is a day of joy in the city and state.

The "commission error" that explains his iconography of Dolorosa belongs to tradition.