Virgin of Caacupe

The Virgin of Caacupé or Virgin of Miracles of Caacupé is a variant of the Marian invocation of the Immaculate Conception venerated in the town of the same name, where a Catholic basilica has been inaugurated on December 8, 1765, which has become a place of pilgrimage for numerous believers from Paraguay, the country of which she is the patron saint. During his visit to Paraguay, Pope Francis elevated the sanctuary of the Virgin of Caacupé to the rank of minor basilica, making it the second church in the country to have this category. The corresponding decree was read at the end of the celebration of the mass on July 11, 2015. The Paraguayan diaspora has brought the cult of the Virgin of Miracles of Caacupé to several countries, mainly Argentina, where the largest Paraguayan community resides abroad..

In 1912, processional litters of chiselled and embossed silver were made for the image, the work of the Félix Granda Art Workshops, which are still used today in their festivities.

Origin of name

The name Caacupé comes from the Guarani word ka'a kupé, which means 'behind the grass' or 'behind the grass forest'. The term ka’aguý means ‘mountain’ (in its meaning as ‘forest’), and ka’á is ‘yerba mate’. It is often said that Caacupé is the spiritual capital of Paraguay, because it has the largest sanctuary in the country.

History

Caacupé Minor Basilica

One of the most important sanctuaries in the Republic of Paraguay, the Abode of the Virgin of the Miracles of Caacupé

In the town of Tobatí (near Caacupé), founded around 1600, lived a Guarani sculptor named José, a Guarani Indian, a convert from the Franciscan mission there. Returning one day from the jungles of the Ytú valley with a large piece of wood of very good quality, he recounted that he had met the Mbayá Indians (a tribe that had decided to fight against the Spanish and Portuguese colonization), whom he considered very dangerous.

The Indian ran, and found a thick log behind which he hid. At that moment he promised that with the wood of the protective tree he would carve the image of the Virgin, if he managed to get out of the trance alive. The mbayas continued on without noticing his presence, and the Indian, grateful, as soon as he was able to return, took from the tree the wood he needed to sculpt the statue.

The trunk was enough for two carvings: the largest was destined for the Church of Tobatí and the smallest was kept by the Indian in his possession, for his personal devotion.

Jesuit missionaries said that miraculous water had gushed out at the precise site of the apparition, which had helped the Guarani survive the summer heat.

Pilgrims in front of the sanctuary of Caacupé

Years later, the great flood that created Lake Ypacaraý threatened to destroy the nearby towns. The Franciscan friars, accompanied by the inhabitants of the region, organized prayers asking for the calm of the waters. Father Luis de Bolaños blessed them and —as every year— they receded to their current limits. It was then that the image of the Virgin appeared floating in a wooden box, which the priests said was the one from the mission of Tobatí, the same one that the Indian José had carved years before. Since then the people called her the Virgin of Miracles of Ka'akupé. A document from the year 1769 in the National Archives affirms that Father Roque Melgareco, a missionary of the Tobatí Doctrine, donated to the inhabitants of Ka'akupé an Image of the Immaculate Conception and land for the construction of a temple in his honor..(Margarita Duran Estragó and others, History of the Church in Paraguay, Ed. Time of history, Asunción 2014, page 186) In other documents from those years, the area was already known as the Valle de Caacupé. On April 4, 1770, it is taken as a reference for the foundation of the town of this last name. The humble and “unknown” José, with only his first name and no nicknames, represents each and every Guarani Christian. The mythical narration tells of his pilgrimages, of the mortal dangers they suffered, of his devotion to the Immaculate, the Tupäsy (Mother of God) who took the place of the mythical Ñandesy of her ancestors. In the story there are no apparitions or visions, there are no messages and there is no shipment. There are only two miracles of salvation (from enemies and from the flood). Margot Bremer, indigenous theologian, speaks of a "symbolic-religious condensation of history since the Guaranïes. (see Margot Bremer, The Bible and the indigenous world, conapi, Asunción 1998, p. 147)

Thus, the lesser image, Our Lady of Miracles of Caacupé, "became greater due to the abundance of her gifts and her faithful." As for the large size, it is supposed to have been looted by the mbayás.

Festivity

Sale of t-shirts and handicrafts in Caacupé.

The popularity of the Virgin of Caacupé in Paraguay is the most important within the Catholic prayer book of the Guarani nation. For this reason, this image of the Virgin Mary is enshrined as the Patron Saint and Protector of the Republic of Paraguay. Such a title is equivalent to that held by the Virgin of Luján in Argentina and Our Lady Aparecida in Brazil.

Paraguayans who are far from their land, remember this festivity by visiting and/or participating in a mass (the most popular ones are the one that starts -in the first hour- and the central one) in a nearby church under this invocation or the one that is most significant for sentimental, affective or historical reasons. If any Paraguayan institution has her as patron, in addition to participating in a mass, they take and bring the image of this Virgin in procession in a church. The Paraguayan diaspora has introduced the Virgencita Azul, as she is also called, in other countries. Thus, in Spain, the Association of Paraguayans in Malaga donated to the church of San Juan Bautista a replica of the Virgin of Miracles of Caacupé, which was enthroned on December 4, 2016. Earlier, in January 2012, thanks to the Paraguayan Association Oñondivepa enthroned a virgin in the parish of San Juan Bautista, in Vélez-Málaga. In Argentina, Paraguayan immigrants founded the parish of the Virgin of Caacupé in the town of Berazategui to worship the Virgencita Azul. In the town of Caballito, there is the Nuestra Señora de Caacupé Parish and the Nuestra Señora De Caacupé Scout Group - 508 (Phone: 011 4901-1811). Said parish is located at Avenida Rivadavia height 4879 and receives inquiries at its telephone number (011 4904-0648).