Basilica of Our Lady of Suyapa
In the village of Suyapa, on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, the Basilica of Our Lady of Suyapa, the national sanctuary of Honduras and the seat of the small image found in 1747 by the peasant Alejandro Colindres between the fields of Piligüín, rises. The early church gave way to a cruciform basilica whose construction began on December 8, 1954 and ended in 2005. Pope Francis raised her to Basilica Minor on September 9, 2015, the first of the country.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The image that is venerated is only seven centimeters high and was found in 1747 by the peasant Alejandro Colindres as he slept in the fields between Piligüín and the village of Suyapa; he took it with him without recognizing its importance and only when he arrived home he was identified as an image of the Virgin.
- Pope Pius XI declared the Virgin of Suyapa patron of Honduras in 1925, and since then popular devotion has concentrated hundreds of thousands of pilgrims from all over the Central American country every February.
- The first stone of the basilica was placed on 8 December 1954 by Archbishop José de la Cruz Turcios and Barahona; the work advanced with funds from Honduran donors and the collaboration of the Zúñiga-Inestroza family, which gave up the land in 1950.
- The building is 93 meters long, its towers are 43 meters high and the central dome is 46 meters high; the main altar was made by the Valencian artist Francisco Hurtado- Soto.
- On September 9, 2015, Pope Francis raised it to the Minor Basilica, making it the first basilica of Honduras and one of the few in Central America, a recognition that highlights the spiritual weight of the sanctuary throughout the region.
- Next to the modern basilica is the small Old Church of Suyapa, an 18th-century hermitage that received the image for almost two centuries and kept its atmosphere of popular devotion intact.
Our Lady of Suyapa · Patroness of Honduras
The Basilica of Our Lady of Suyapa is the spiritual heart of Honduras. Its small image, carved in wood of just seven centimeters, arouses a faith that overflows borders: every year, around February 3, many pilgrims walk the roads leading to Tegucigalpa to bow down to the Patron of Honduras. The modern basilica, opened in 2005 and raised to the Minor Basilica by Pope Francis in 2015, is a simple and grandeur guard of this tiny treasure which since 1747 has not ceased to generate conversions, thanks and hope among the Honduran people.
"Mother of Suyapa, Patron of Honduras, you who from your little image have comforted generations of pilgrims and poor, intercede for us before your Son. Keep all those who seek you with a humble heart, support those who walk towards you with tired feet and charged soul, and bring us one day to eternal rest in the presence of God. Amen.
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