Our Lady of Peace of San Miguel

Tradition that coastal inhabitants found a sealed box containing a Marian image, whose pack animal then stopped before the San Miguel parish church; the image's unveiling was followed by reconciliation in the community. The tradition locates the event at Amapala coast and San Miguel, San Miguel Department, El Salvador and associates it with Late seventeenth century (1692 in the current diocesan account; 1682 in other accounts). The date and place are reported according to the official Catholic sources cited for this entry.^[1][3]

The identified witness or witnesses are Unnamed Indigenous coastal inhabitants and custodians (traditional finders and carriers of the sealed box); People gathered at the San Miguel parish church (traditional collective witnesses to the opening of the box). The article reports the tradition according to its competent ecclesial sources; it does not fill gaps with later devotional embroidery or treat every attributed message and anecdote as part of the authoritative judgment.^[1][4]

The Diocese of San Miguel presents the found-image and stopped-animal tradition as the origin of the invocation and public cult, records the 1921 pontifical coronation, and maintains the cathedral shrine and annual solemnity; Paul VI declared Our Lady of Peace Patroness of El Salvador in 1966. The competent authority was Popes Benedict XV and Paul VI and the Diocese of San Miguel, Roman Pontiffs and local ordinary, acting with respect to Diocese of San Miguel and Catholic Church in El Salvador. The recorded judgment date is 1966-11-21, and its defined scope is The national patronage, pontifically crowned image, cathedral shrine, solemnity, processions, and public devotion linked to the San Miguel found-image tradition.^[1][2]

The competent ecclesial acts receive or authorize public devotion connected with the tradition, but they do not decide that the reported manifestation was supernatural. Liturgical observance, a shrine, pilgrimage, canonical coronation, patronage, or papal reception must not be converted into an authenticity decree that was never issued. The diocesan source currently dates the tradition to 1692, while widely repeated accounts give 1682; the record therefore preserves a range. Coronation, patronage, and shrine status do not declare the origin story supernatural.^[2][5]

Public devotion connected with Our Lady Queen of Peace is authorized within the scope expressed by the competent acts. This permits Catholic prayer, pilgrimage, liturgical or shrine life, and pastoral reception only as those acts actually provide; local and universal observance remain distinct.^[1][2]

A devotional permission is not a blank authorization for commercial exploitation, sensational predictions, disobedience, novel doctrine, or every text circulated under an apparition's name. Pastors retain responsibility for sound catechesis, the Sacraments, protection of the faithful, and any qualifications or restrictions attached to the judgment.^[1][2]

Public Revelation is complete in Jesus Christ and transmitted in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition. A Marian apparition cannot add to the Deposit of Faith, correct the Gospel, or create an alternate teaching office. At most, an authentic private revelation helps the faithful live Christ's definitive Revelation more fully in a particular historical setting.^[6][7]

No Catholic is obliged to accept a private revelation as an article of divine and Catholic faith, even when competent authority has made a favorable judgment. Catholics must, however, respect the Church's actual permissions, cautions, and prohibitions. Exact terminology safeguards both legitimate Marian devotion and the primacy of Christ, whose grace alone gives every authentic apparition its meaning.^[6][5]