Our Lady of Coromoto
| Reported event | Tradition of Marian appearances to the Cospes leader Coromoto and his family, associated with the small Coromoto image |
|---|---|
| Place | near Guanare, Portuguesa, Venezuela |
| Dates associated with the event | 1651 and 8 September 1652 |
| Witnesses | Coromoto, Coromoto's wife, Isabel, Juan |
| Ecclesial status | Public devotion authorized; supernatural authenticity not determined |
| Public devotion | Authorized |
| Competent authority | Pope Pius XII and the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, papal confirmation of national patronage |
| Judgment date | 1944-10-07 |
Our Lady of Coromoto is a Catholic Marian title and manifestation tradition associated with near Guanare, Portuguesa, Venezuela. Its exact ecclesial status is public devotion authorized; supernatural authenticity not determined; that status governs what may truthfully be said about the reported event and the devotion connected with it.[1][2]
Overview
Our Lady of Coromoto (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Coromoto), also known as the Virgin of Coromoto (Spanish: Virgen de Coromoto), is a celebrated Catholic image of an alleged apparition of Mary, mother of Jesus. In 1942, she was declared the patron saint of Venezuela.
Reported event
Tradition of Marian appearances to the Cospes leader Coromoto and his family, associated with the small Coromoto image. The tradition locates the event at near Guanare, Portuguesa, Venezuela and associates it with 1651 and 8 September 1652. Spanish colonial Venezuela.[1][3]
The identified witness or witnesses are Coromoto (traditional principal visionary and Cospes leader); Coromoto's wife (traditional witness); Isabel (traditional witness and sister-in-law of Coromoto); Juan (traditional witness and son of Isabel). The tradition is presented according to its competent ecclesial sources; later devotional embellishments, attributed messages, and anecdotes outside the authoritative judgment remain distinct from the approved material.[1][4]
Ecclesiastical judgment
The Venezuelan bishops chose Our Lady of Coromoto as national patroness, Pope Pius XII confirmed the patronage, and Saint John Paul II dedicated the national shrine while receiving the tradition. The competent authority was Pope Pius XII and the Venezuelan Episcopal Conference, papal confirmation of national patronage, acting with respect to Catholic Church in Venezuela. The recorded judgment date is 1944-10-07, and its defined scope is The Coromoto appearance-and-image tradition and national public devotion to its Marian invocation.[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. Patronage, shrine dedication, and papal reception do not amount to a located formal judgment of supernatural authenticity.[2][5]
Devotion and reception
Public devotion connected with Our Lady of Coromoto 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]
Relation to Catholic faith
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]
Apparition
When the city of Guanare (capital of Portuguesa state) was founded in 1591, the Indian tribe who inhabited the region, the Cospes, fled to the northern jungle. When the Roman Catholic Church began to evangelize, its efforts were at first resisted.[8] There is a legend that the Virgin Mary appeared twice to the chief of the local tribe, once in 1651 in a river canyon when she told him to be baptised, and again, when he was still refusing baptism, on September 8, 1652, when she appeared in his hut. This time he is said to have tried to grab her and she vanished, leaving behind a small painting of her.[9]
Veneration
The Venezuelan episcopate declared the Patroness of Venezuela on May 1, 1942, a designation ratified by Pope Pius XII on October 7, 1944, who then crowned her on September 11, 1952. Pope John Paul II reiterated an imposed solemn coronation of the Papal decree via Cardinal Agostino Casaroli on February 10, 1985. A church dedicated to her in Guanare was designated a national shrine on January 7, 1996. In 2007, Pope Benedict XVI elevated the church to the rank of a minor basilica, designated the Basilica of the National Shrine of Our Lady of Coromoto.[10]
References
- Back to citation occurrence 1.0 Back to citation occurrence 1.1 Back to citation occurrence 1.2 Back to citation occurrence 1.3 Back to citation occurrence 1.4 Back to citation occurrence 1.5 National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Coromoto: History of Our Lady of Coromoto — Official Catholic source supporting event, eventDates, witnesses, imageTradition.
- Back to citation occurrence 2.0 Back to citation occurrence 2.1 Back to citation occurrence 2.2 Back to citation occurrence 2.3 Back to citation occurrence 2.4 Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, 1978 norms on presumed apparitions and revelations — The earlier procedural norms under which many historical favorable judgments and permissions of public devotion were made.
- Back to citation Holy See: Homily at the Shrine of Our Lady of Coromoto — Official Catholic source supporting papalReception, shrine, publicDevotion.
- Back to citation National Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Coromoto: Pontifical brief on Coromoto patronage — Official Catholic source supporting patronage, authority, date, publicDevotion.
- Back to citation occurrence 5.0 Back to citation occurrence 5.1 Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, Norms for Proceeding in the Discernment of Alleged Supernatural Phenomena — The current law governing investigation and the six possible prudential conclusions, including the exact limits of a nihil obstat.
- Back to citation occurrence 6.0 Back to citation occurrence 6.1 Catechism of the Catholic Church, 65–67 — Catholic doctrine on the definitive fullness of Revelation in Christ and the subordinate role of private revelations.
- Back to citation Second Vatican Council, Dei Verbum — The dogmatic constitution on Revelation in Christ and its transmission in Scripture and Apostolic Tradition.
- Back to citation De La Torre, Miguel (2009). Hispanic American Religious Cultures. ABC-CLIO. p. 575. ISBN 978-1-59884-139-8.
- Back to citation De La Torre, Miguel (2009). Hispanic American Religious Cultures. ABC-CLIO. p. 575. ISBN 978-1-59884-139-8; Davidson, Linda Kay (2002). Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland, An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 214. ISBN 978-1-57607-543-2; Nichols, Elizabeth Gackstetter; Kimberly J. Morse (2010). Venezuela. 978-1598845693. p. 175. ISBN 9781598845709.
- Back to citation "During celebration to elevate national Shrine of Our Lady of Coromoto to the rank of Minor Basilica, Cardinal Urosa calls Catholics to 'assume with joy, enthusiasm and fidelity our condition as missionaries of Jesus Christ'", Agenzia Fides, October 24, 2007