Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The pearl in the shape of a leg

The Valley of the Holy Spirit, Margarita (Venezuela) (devotional tradition)

On the island of Margarita, in the Valley of the Holy Spirit, we venerate Our Lady of the Valley, patron of the Venezuelan East and of the fishermen and the Navy. The image came from Spain in the 16th century, destined for the island of Cubagua, the perlero center of the time; after the tsunami that in 1541 destroyed Cubagua, the population moved to Margarita and took the Virgin with it. From there it is born its closeness to the people of the sea.

The most beloved anecdote of this advocation is that of the pearl in the form of a leg. It tells the tradition that a very devout pearl fisherman was seriously injured by a line, and his leg reached the gangrene with an indication of amputating it. The man promised the Virgin that if she healed, she would offer her the first pearl to get out of the sea. He unexpectedly recovered health, amputation was avoided, and when he returned to the factory, the first oyster he opened kept a pearl in the shape of a leg. He offered it to the Virgin as a thank you.

Here it is appropriate to distinguish, with affection, the fact of interpretation. The material fact is verifiable: there is a leg-shaped pearl, preserved as an devotee in the diocesan Museum of the Virgin of the Valley, next to the Basilica of Margarita, and traditionally linked to a cured fisherman. Miraculous interpretation - an extraordinary healing by intercession of Mary - belongs to the devotional tradition of the people; there is no historical medical record to quote. It is a story of popular piety, transmitted and reaffirmed by the sanctuary and the devotees.

Del mismo modo, los relatos de que la imagen «sobrevivió milagrosamente» al desastre de Cubagua proceden de tradiciones orales modernas. Lo documentado es el traslado de la población y de los bienes religiosos de Cubagua a Margarita tras el maremoto de 1541, la coronación canónica concedida por Pío X el 15 de agosto de 1910 y la elevación del templo a Basílica Menor el 8 de septiembre de 1955; la fiesta grande es el 8 de septiembre.

En cuanto al Rosario, no consta que la Virgen del Valle tenga un título oficial o un origen ligado de modo singular a esa oración; sí se promueve el rezo del Rosario en la pastoral del santuario, como parte de la espiritualidad mariana venezolana. Se dice por allá: «donde haya un oriental, está la presencia de la Virgen del Valle».