Caracas, Venezuela, May 27, 2011 / 15:58 pm
The pastor of the cathedral in Barquisimeto, Venezuela, celebrated a Mass of Reparation on May 26 after several statues of Mary the Divine Pastor were damaged.
Local media reported that a large statue located on a main thoroughfare in Barquisimeto had been disfigured by what appeared to be bullets. Statues in other areas of the city were also damaged.
Mary the Divine Pastor is the patroness of the Venezuelan state of Lara.
Pastor Father Angel Castillo denounced the attacks and called on Catholics to attend the Mass of Reparation and pray for the conversion of those responsible for the acts.
Mary the Divine Pastor
In 1706 the statues of the Immaculate Conception and Mary the Divine Pastor were brought to Venezuela. They were delivered to the wrong parishes, but when workers tried to move the statue of Mary the Divine Pastor, it would not budge.
The decision was made to leave it at the parish of St. Rose.
Then in 1812, an earthquake destroyed the parish but the statue was untouched. Later, in 1855, Fr. Jose Macario Yepez, pastor of the church, prayed for Mary the Divine Pastor’s intercession to stop the cholera epidemic that was decimating the population.
Fr. Macario Yepez took the statue out for a procession and offered his life in exchange for the end to the epidemic. Days later he died of cholera.
Since then, Catholics of Barquisimeto have carried the statue in procession through the streets of the city each year.