October 27
Virgen de la Puerta, Otuzco, La Libertad, Peru
The Augustinian Fathers founded the highland city of Otuzco
in 1560, dedicating both town and church to the Immaculate Conception. On
the church's main altar was a statue of the Virgin from Spain, carried in
procession once annually on the feast of the Immaculate Conception,
December 8. Gradually, the octave of the feast assumed public importance,
and since it was not considered proper for the altar statue to leave its
post more than once, parishioners ordered a second processional statue for
use on December 15 and other occasions, from a workshop in Venezuela, and
installed it in a side altar. Then in 1670, word came that freebooters had
plundered towns to the north and were on their way to Otuzco. Townspeople
took the processional Immaculata out to the road where the attackers would
come, and remained there three days in prayer. When the freebooters failed
to appear, the thankful people joyfully returned to the town. Unwilling to
return the statue of the saving Virgin to the side altar, they enshrined
it above the church door. Devotion to the Virgin of the Door continued
through the centuries. Soon after the statue's crowning on October 27,
1943, a Brotherhood of the Virgin of the Door was established, which began
planning a new sanctuary for their patron. The coronation anniversary has
been celebrated ever since with a procession recalling the statue's trip
to the city of Trujillo for the occasion. On October 27, 1983, the Virgen
de la Puerta moved to a shrine above the door of the new church. The
Virgin of the Door is now patron of northern Peru, and her celebration on
December 15 also draws crowds from near and far.
Sources:
 | Inmaculada Virgen de la Puerta de Otuzco, www.virgendelapuertaotuzco.com |
| Eduard Lozano, "Gracias por fortalecer mi fe en Dios..." prensavirtual.blogspot.com/2007_12_16_archive.html, December 17, 2007 (photo) |
Also commemorated this date:
| Gua Maria Marganingsih, Bayat, Klaten, Central Java, Indonesia. Grotto dedicated, 2002. |
| Madonna del Piave, Moriago della Battaglia, Treviso, Veneto, Italy. Church on Isola dei Morti honors World War I dead ferried across the Piave River on the night of October 26-27, 1918. |
| Yakhrom Icon of the Mother of God, Yakhroma, Dmitrovsky, Moscow, Russia (October 14 Julian) |