Our Lady of Santa Anita (Jalisco)

Marian devotion

Where is he?

Our Lady of Santa Anita is venerated in Santa Anita, an integrated town in the municipality of San Pedro Tlaquepaque, Jalisco, Mexico. The marine source consulted identifies it as a venerated image in the village of the same name and as a sanctuary that receives pilgrims. The point of the map corresponds to the Parish of Santa Anita which OpenStreetMap identifies as a place of worship; it does not intend to point out the exact place of each devotional testimony.

The image is named after "Health of the Sick," "Lawyer of the Sick" and "Candelaria of Jalisco." It is an apvocation of public Catholic worship, not a Marian apparition. The veneration of Mary is understood here as a request for intercession before God: worship corresponds only to God.

Documented history

The monograph consulted transmits several versions on the arrival of the image, located between 1530 and 1535. Some attribute it to Fra Antonio de Segovia and others to Fra Miguel de Bologna; the source itself warns that these versions are not accurate. That is why one of them is not presented as a proven fact. What is recorded in the documentation used is the continuity of the veneration of the image in Santa Anita and the existence of a sanctuary dedicated to it.

The local account speaks of a woman named Justina or Agustina who would have taken care of a sick friar and then left in the care of the image. The source tells it as a tradition: a contemporary document is not available here to convert every detail into a proven history. In 1700, according to the same monograph, devotion had already acquired a greater spread and the image was transferred to the temple of the people. The title passed through the advocation of the Assumption and, since 1776, the title of Our Lady of the Candelaria or Santa Maria of Purification; the Feast of February 2 is celebrated since 1782 according to that testimony.

The construction of the present temple began in 1732 and the fountain was completed in 1762, with the towers completed later. It also documents the fire of the sanctuary in October 1860, the subsequent reconstruction and the festive return of the image. These data describe the material history transmitted by the source; they do not make the survival or return of the image a proven miracle.

Tradition

The tradition of Santa Anita relates the change of appearance of the image to the state of sick people treated by Justina. The source narrates that the face seemed to change and that the community interpreted these signs as an announcement of improvement or death. It is kept as a devotional account, separate from the documented history: it is not said that the phenomenon is proven or that each healing is a recognized miracle.

Local memory also links the image to the 1918 influenza epidemic. The monograph reports that, during the disease, the neighbors requested permission to carry the image through the streets and then attributed to their intercession the end of the epidemic. The existence of the epidemic and of the procession belongs to the historical account of the community; the causal attribution to Marian intercession is presented as a tradition, not as a medical conclusion or an ecclesial decree.

Legend

No apparition is incorporated. The stories about color changes, cures, fire protection and the disappearance of the epidemic remain in the section of tradition because they are stories transmitted by local devotion. The source used does not contain a pronunciation that declares each of these facts supernatural.

Ecclesial State

The state indicated is permitted venerationin the sense that the source documents a Catholic sanctuary, a patron's feast and public devotion. The monograph contains a diocesan coronation announced for 2 February 1992 and a pontifical coronation approved for 29 May 2004. This label does not amount to approving an apparition or to declaring miraculous the traditions associated with the image.

Anecdotes and stories

The patron party takes place between January 24 and February 2, with novitiary, pilgrimages and the so-called "Entrance of wax." The source also describes a pilgrimage of the absent children and the annual output of the image on February 2. They are community practices that show how an advocation is kept alive through liturgy, pilgrimage and mutual help.

The sanctuary is described as a baroque construction of a Latin cross plant, with a long architectural history and repairs after the fire of 1860. In 1981, according to the source, the temple was blessed as the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Santa Anita. The map uses the cartographed parish as a place reference and not as a GPS of a supernatural experience.

Prayer

Holy Mary, Health of the Sick, intercedes before God for those who suffer disease, for their families and for those who care for them. Teach us to accompany with charity, to seek the necessary medical help and to live faith with prudence and hope. Amen.

Sources

• Marian monograph: Our Lady of Santa Anita.
• OpenStreetMap relationship 20324583: Parroquia de Santa Anita.