Our Lady of Šiluva of Washington

Marian Advocation of Washington (District of Columbia)

La devoción de Our Lady of Šiluva refers to the Marian sanctuary of Šiluva, in Lithuania, where tradition places an early apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1608, considered one of the first Marian apparitions registered in Eastern Europe. In this tradition, the event took place in the place where a Catholic church had previously disappeared during the religious conflicts of the 16th century.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción de Our Lady of Šiluva refers to the Marian sanctuary of Šiluva, in Lithuania, where tradition places an early apparition of the Virgin Mary in 1608, considered one of the first Marian apparitions registered in Eastern Europe. In this tradition, the event took place in the place where a Catholic church had previously disappeared during the religious conflicts of the 16th century.

La tradition says that an icon of the Virgin would have been taken from Rome to Šiluva in 1457 and that the first church of the place would have been linked to that image. The documented historyOn the other hand, he notes that the present church of Šiluva was built in the mid-18th century and that the sanctuary consolidated its Marian prestige by the apparition of 1608 and by the continuity of local veneration.

La advocación de Šiluva de Washington no designate a distinct sanctuary in Lithuania, up to chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Šiluva en la Basilica of the National Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conceptionin Washington, D.C., where this advocation is venerated by the Lithuanian-American community.

The image and the sanctuary

The venerated image in Šiluva is a oil paint on canvas of the Virgin with the Child, with iconographic features that follow closely the model of the Salus Populi Romani of Santa Maria la Mayor in Rome. According to the description available, the image is covered in a silver and gold dress, leaving visible the faces and hands of Mary and Jesus.

In Washington, the advocation is venerated in a chapel located within the Basilica of the National Sanctuary of the Immaculate Conception, temple that has the character of minor basilica y de National sanctuary Catholic in the United States. The sources consulted do not provide a specific, secure and detailed description of their own image in the Washington chapel; therefore, that data no consta with documentary precision in the results provided.

Sponsorship and coronation

The advocation of Šiluva is associated прежде all with Šiluva, Lituaniawhere he is considered local patron of the pilgrimage place. There is no specific canonical patronage of Washington nor of an American diocese for this chapel; therefore, that fact no consta.

On the canonical coronationthe sources provided do not safely document a canonical coronation of this advocation in the Washington chapel; therefore, does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

La main party indicated for Our Lady of Šiluva is the September 8in connection with the Nativity of the Virgin Mary and the local devotional tradition.

The devotion to Šiluva has a strong character pilgrim and Penitential in Lithuania, in memory of the apparition of 1608 and the restoration of Marian devotion in a place affected by the disappearance of the ancient church. In the Lithuanian environment of the United States, the advocation has been especially appreciated by the diaspora as a sign of religious and cultural identity, although the sources consulted do not provide reliable data of influx, concrete pilgrimages or popular traditions specific to the Washington chapel; these elements no constan in the available results.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted no constan a specific and documented historical relationship of this advocation with a Rosary fellowship or with rosarian practices in the Washington chapel. However, devotion to Our Lady of Šiluva is fully inserted into the Marian Catholic spirituality, and the Rosary It naturally accompanies this veneration by meditating on the mysteries of Christ with Mary, in harmony with the contemplative and ecclesial profile of the sanctuary.