Our Lady of Peace

Marian vocation of Montufar (Carchi)

La devoción a Our Lady of Peace en la La Paz Grotto, in the Canton Montúfar (Carchi, Ecuador), it is linked to a well-established local tradition that places the origin of the image in 1916. According to the tradition collected by local media, Father Jaramillo, parish priest of La Paz, would have dreamed that the Virgin asked for an image to appease the political conflicts of the time; from that story a stone size was commissioned to the artist imabureño Daniel Reyeswho would have worked a stone taken from the Apaqui River.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción a Our Lady of Peace en la La Paz Grotto, in the Canton Montúfar (Carchi, Ecuador), it is linked to a well-established local tradition that places the origin of the image in 1916. According to the tradition collected by local media, Father Jaramillo, parish priest of La Paz, would have dreamed that the Virgin asked for an image to appease the political conflicts of the time; from that story a stone size was commissioned to the artist imabureño Daniel Reyeswho would have worked a stone taken from the Apaqui River.

As for the documented history, the sources consulted agree that the Grotto de La Paz is a Marian sanctuary located in a natural cave of the canyon of the Apaquí River and that the venerated image there is a stone sculpture. It also shows that the place was declared Mariano National Sanctuary el 10 December 1976. Apart from these data, there is no more precise documentary chronology in the revised sources.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image is a stone-carved sculpture de Our Lady of Peace, atribuida al artista Daniel Reyes. The available sources do not accurately detail your iconography, dimensions or polychrome, so these data no constan in the documents consulted.

The sanctuary is officially known as Sanctuary of Our Lady of Peace o Sanctuary - Grotto of Our Lady of Peaceand is popularly called La Paz Grotto. This is a Rock sanctuary located in a natural cave, one of the most representative religious places in the Canton Montúfar, about 18-26 km from San Gabriel according to the different local descriptions consulted. The revised sources include: Mariano National Sanctuary; it is not known to have the category of lower basilica.

Sponsorship and coronation

In the documentation consulted, Our Lady of Peace is especially venerated as Patrona del Carchi. The revised sources do not contain a detailed canonical patronage of city, municipality or diocese beyond that regional reference.

With regard to coronation, does not contain a documented canonical coronation in the verified sources for this advocation and sanctuary.

Party and devotion

The main celebration takes place at 9 July, date indicated by local sources as the center of the parties in the Gruta de La Paz. In addition, a special visit to the 10 Decemberin commemoration of the declaration of the Mariano National Sanctuary.

Local devotion is expressed in pilgrimages to the sanctuary, visits to the grotto and veneration of the Marian image in a very unique natural environment. The sources also mention the fame of the place for nearby water, to which curative properties for the skin and rheumatic ailments are popularly attributed; this data belongs to the realm of popular tradition and not to a medical finding. The sources consulted do not contain official figures of influx or statistics of pilgrims.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted do not contain a specific historical association of this advocation with a rosarian fellowship, calendar or practice. However, as Marian sanctuary, the La Paz Grotto is fully inserted into the spirituality of the Rosary, because the prayer of the Rosary leads to contemplating with Mary the mysteries of Christ and usually accompany the pilgrimages, novenas and acts of piety in the Marian shrines.