Our Lady of Altagracia

Protectress of the Dominican people

Our Lady of Altagracia is a Marian devotion known for being the protectress of the Dominican people. Brought from Extremadura at the beginning of the 16th century, she is venerated in a beautiful painting on cloth in the basilica-cathedral of Higüey, in the province of La Altagracia. Her feast day, 21 January, is a public holiday in the Dominican Republic, and the faithful come to her shrine from all over Latin America. Her devotion also extends throughout the Dominican diaspora.

Ključne činjenice

Central message: in an image of the birth of Jesus, Mary teaches the Dominican people silent adoration before the Child, and makes herself «Altagracia» —high grace— for the humble who call upon her.

Tradition and history: a necessary distinction

Around Altagracia two levels coexist that should not be confused.

Dominican popular tradition tells that a cattle merchant from Higüey, at the request of his youngest daughter, searched in vain for an image of the Virgin of Altagracia that no one knew; on the return journey, an elderly traveller who asked for lodging carried with him, in a roll, the painting that had been sought, and the next morning he disappeared without a trace. In Extremadura, the medieval tradition of Garrovillas speaks of a little shepherdess who saw upon a rock a Lady with a rosary and who, on digging beneath the rock, found the image. These are venerable accounts of popular piety, which should be received as such and not presented as documented facts.

The documented history indicates that the image was brought to Hispaniola at the beginning of the 16th century by the brothers Alonso and Antonio de Trejo, natives of Plasencia with family in Garrovillas de Alconétar, who placed it for veneration in the church of Higüey. So it was recorded by the canon Luis Jerónimo de Alcocer in his Relación Sumaria de la Isla Española (1650). Bishop Ramón Benito de la Rosa himself noted that this is the version «that seems most logical.»

Origin and arrival in Hispaniola

The devotion has its origin in Extremadura, where it is venerated in two towns, each with its own chapel and tradition: Garrovillas de Alconétar (Cáceres) and Siruela (Badajoz). At the beginning of the 16th century, the Trejo brothers, among the first Christian settlers of the island, brought with them the image of their devotion and enthroned it in Higüey, where they lived.

The feast of 21 January

The pilgrimage to Altagracia dates back to the colonial period. Some historians link the date of 21 January with the Battle of Sabana Real (1691), in which the Creole troops defeated the French; the victory was attributed to the intercession of the Virgin, to whom a vow had been made to celebrate a great feast in her honour. The vow was fulfilled in 1692. A document of Archbishop Friar Isidoro Rodríguez Lorenzo confirmed the date:

In 1924 the Congress of the Dominican Republic decreed the celebration as a national feast on 21 January, and on 31 October 1927 Pope Pius XI declared it a feast of the Church by apostolic brief.

Canonical coronations

In the 20th century the image was crowned twice. The first, on 15 August 1922 at the Puerta del Conde, in the name of the newly elected Pope Pius XI, represented by Bishop Sebastião Leite de Vasconcellos. The second, during the visit of Saint John Paul II: after blessing the basilica-cathedral in 1979, he personally crowned the image on 12 October 1992 with a diadem of gilded silver. On 15 August 2022, Pope Francis sent a Golden Rose to close the centenary of the canonical coronation.

The image and its iconography

The image is a painting on cloth measuring about 33.5 × 45 cm, attributed to an unknown Spanish artist of the early 16th century, set in a frame of gold, enamel and precious stones, a masterpiece of 18th-century Dominican goldsmithing. It depicts the scene of the Birth of Jesus in Bethlehem, with the Virgin in an attitude of adoration, her hands joined in an arch and her face serene, her eyes lowered in meditation. On her breast stands out a white ray in the form of a triangle —an expression of the virginal birth— and she is surrounded by twelve stars that evoke the Twelve Apostles, together with the great star of Bethlehem. The restoration work was carried out in Spain in 1978, after centuries of exposure to candle smoke.

The spiritual message of Altagracia

Devotion to Our Lady of Altagracia still speaks to us today with simplicity:

🌟 Mary teaches us to adore the Child. Her image is not one of power, but of silent contemplation before the manger.
🌊 From Spain to America, one and the same faith. The devotion crossed the sea in the hearts of two brothers who would not leave their Mother behind.
🇩🇴 Mary protects a whole people. The «high grace» draws near to the humble who call upon her.
✝️ Mary always leads to her Son. Everything in the image looks toward the Child asleep on the straw.

Prayer to Our Lady of Altagracia

A sober Marian prayer, gathered in our section of Marijine molitve.