Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal

Chos Malal · Neuquén · Argentina

On a specific title "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal" as local patron of the neutral city in open and verifiable sources, a different history of general devotion to the Virgin of Luján, patron of Argentina. There is no record of his own in the diocese, nor in official sanctuaries, nor in the national Catholic press consulted. Therefore, does not contain a particular documented history that melts an advocation different from Our Lady of Luján applied to Chos Malal.

Main data

Origin and history

On a specific title "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal" as local patron of the neutral city in open and verifiable sources, a different history of general devotion to the Virgin of Luján, patron of Argentina. There is no record of his own in the diocese, nor in official sanctuaries, nor in the national Catholic press consulted. Therefore, does not contain a particular documented history that melts an advocation different from Our Lady of Luján applied to Chos Malal.

However, a strong presence of devotion to the Virgin of Luján in the Upper Neuquén area, with processions and horseback riding in nearby areas such as Naunauco (about 30 km from Chos Malal), where Luján's image is celebrated as a protector of the rural population of the region. These celebrations are linked to the historical spread of the Virgin of Luján as the national patron and protector of the routes and of the travelers throughout the country, devotion that has been rooted in many chapels and parishes of Patagonia.

From the general historical point of view, the advocation of Our Lady of Luján it goes back to the miracle attributed to the small image of the Immaculate Conception which, about 1630, "would have refused to follow the journey" and remained in the area of Luján (province of Buenos Aires), where later the famous national sanctuary was erected. This story, widely disseminated, explains why many communities, including the cordillerans such as those in the neutral north, have adopted the image of Luján as of their peoples and roadsalthough there is not always a formal document declaring the local patronage.

The image and the sanctuary

In the case of Chos Malal, does not consist of verifiable sources a precise description of one's own image under the title "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal" (type of size, size, material, author, date of arrival, etc.). What can be said with certainty, based on the general tradition of advocation, is that it is a image of the Immaculate Conception, following the classic model of Luján: the Virgin standing, with white robe, starry blue mantle and hands together in prayer attitude, on growing lunar and glow, according to the Marian iconography spread from the national shrine of Luján.

The main parish of Chos Malal is the Parish Mary Assistantwho attends different places and chapels, including places where the patron feast of the Virgin of Luján is held (for example, El Alamito and Naunauco, according to the parish itself). No consta that in the city there is a temple officially declared as diocesan sanctuary o minor basilica under the title of Our Lady of Luján. The celebrations seem to be articulating around rural chapels and communities dependent on the parishwhere Luján's image occupies a central place in devotional life, but without specific legal recognition of sanctuary in the documentation consulted.

Sponsorship and coronation

The Virgin of Luján is patron of Argentina and has been subsequently proclaimed also patron of Uruguay and Paraguay, as well as of the Argentine routes and other national institutions. In many places, especially in the interior, it is venerated as local employer or protector by established tradition, without a formal decree to collect it. In the case of Chos Malal, does not contain an episcopal or civil decree online who officially declares "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal" as the patron of the city, although devotional practices in Upper Neuquén actually present her as a protector of the region.

As regards a canonical coronation specific to an image entitled "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal," does not contain a documented canonical coronation. The original image of Our Lady of Luján in the province of Buenos Aires was canonically crowned at the end of the 19th century, with the authorization of Leo XIII, and later declared national patron by Pius XI, but this rite refers to the national sanctuary and not to a local image in Chos Malal.

Party and devotion

La liturgical feast of Our Lady of Luján is celebrated throughout the Argentine Church the 8 May, a date that also appears associated with parish celebrations and processions registered in social networks of communities linked to the Alto Neuquén. In Naunauco, near Chos Malal, a procession and ride in honor of the Virgin of Lujánwith the participation of the faithful of the rural area, which suggests an irradiation of devotion to the entire region of the West.

The characteristic devotional expressions include:

– Processions and riding con la imagen de la Virgen, especialmente alrededor del 8 de mayo, como signo de protección sobre los caminos y la vida rural cordillerana. – Patron parties in chapels dependientes de la Parroquia María Auxiliadora (por ejemplo, El Alamito), donde la Virgen de Luján es honrada como patrona de la comunidad local, con misa, procesión y encuentros fraternos. – Un clima de simple and popular devotionin the small mountain villages, where the Virgin is invoked as a mother, protector of rural work and travel through difficult routes.

No reliable statistical data on annual influx of pilgrims specifically to Chos Malal for this advocation. At the national level, the Virgin of Luján concentrates great pilgrimages in her sanctuary of Buenos Aires, and this irradiation influences that there is also a strong affective closeness to this advocation in Neuquén.

Link to the Rosary

In the sources consulted on the celebrations of the Virgin of Luján in Upper Neuquén, no explicit mention is made of a unique practice of the Rosary associated with the image of Chos Malal (for example, a massive "rosary" or a specific fraternity). There is therefore no documented particular link between "Our Lady of Luján de Chos Malal" and a form of prayer of the Rosary.

However, the Marian spirituality ArgentinaOur Lady of Luján is deeply attached to the Rosary as a daily prayer of the faithful people: in pilgrimages, novies, evenings in the rural chapels and family meetings, the Rosary often prays before its image, asking for protection for the homes, the travel and the needs of the countryside. Similarly, in Chos Malal and in the Alto Neuquén, it can be said on a pastoral basis that the devotion to Our Lady of Luján regularly feeds on the Holy Rosaryin which the mysteries of Christ are seen in the hand of Mary, entrusting to her intercession the life of the Cordilleran communities.