Rome, Italy, May 28, 2008 / 15:47 pm
Eight fishermen have found a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes 33 years after the Communist regime in the country threw the statue into the Mekong River. Local residents have renamed the statue Our Lady of Mekong.
According to the L’Osservatore Romano, the fishermen were unaware of the value of the statue and sold it for “seven U.S. dollars to the inhabitants of a nearby town, who planned to keep the statue in their homes. However, some Christians in the region recognized it as a statue of Our Lady of Lourdes and explained the importance of the discovery.”
“Realizing they had a sacred statue in their hands, the inhabitants gave it to the parish of Areaksat, known as Our Lady of Peace, in exchange for seven bags of rice,” the Vatican daily reported.
Parishioners organized a solemn procession to enthrone the statue. Each day during the month of May, large numbers of people gather at the parish to place flowers before the statue and offer prayers to the Blessed Mother.