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marian
anniversaries december
December 5
Inmaculada Concepción, Guatemala City, Guatemala
 In 1600, Fray Antonio Tineo traveled to Spain to ask
King Felipe III for supplies for Franciscan churches in Guatemala. For the
church of San Francisco in Guatemala City, Padre Tineo brought back a new
statue of the Immaculate Conception from Queen Margarita's private chapel.
Often called the Virgen de los Reyes (Virgin of the Kings), the
beloved image has suffered the excesses of devotion with amazing grace.
Repeatedly damaged by fireworks and other hazards of popular
enthusiasm, the old body has had nine different heads in its 400 years.
But like Mary herself, who is seldom depicted in art as old because of a
tradition that her Immaculate Conception spared her the curse of Adam, the
aged statue remains attractive between its jeweled crown and silver
crescent footrest.
The image was canonically crowned on December 5, 1954 in celebration of
the 100th anniversary of the dogma of the Immaculate Conception. An annual
Rezado or prayer procession with the statue takes place on December 8.
Sources include:
 | "Solemne Procesión de Velas, San Francisco, 2007,"
blogdelcucurucho.com/?p=304 (photo) |
| Celso Lara, "Los Rezados de la Virgen de Concepción en
Guatemala," La Hora, Lunes, 08 de Diciembre de 2008,
www.lahora.com.gt |
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Also commemorated this date:
| Sodality of Our Lady, College of the Society of
Jesus, Rome. Pope Gregory XIII made it an archsodality, 1584;
celebrated as founding. |
| Our Lady of Bethlehem, Tsheseng, Natal, South Africa. New statue
blessed, 1993. |
| Nuestra Señora de la Concepción Coronada, San Cristóbal de La
Laguna, Tenerife, Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain.
Statue crowned, 1954. Fiesta December 8. |
| Notre-Dame de l'Assomption, Neuchâtel, Switzerland. Church
consecrated, 1937. |
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