In the convent of the Immaculate Conception, located in Quito, Ecuador, there is a statue of Our Lady with a very unique and little-known history.
Newsdesk (04/02/2024 19:23, Gaudium Press) Midnight. In the Royal Monastery of the Immaculate Conception in Quito, Ecuador, the silence was broken by the twelve chimes of the clock that signalled the beginning of February 2nd, 1594. Shortly afterwards, the young prioress, Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres, entered the chapel.
With a heart full of grief, she had come to implore the Divine Redeemer, through the intercession of his Blessed Mother, for a solution to the problems that hindered evangelization in those lands: bad examples set by some unworthy priests and religious, unjustifiable excesses by the ecclesiastical and civil authorities, all aggravated by manifestations of disobedience in her own convent.
With her forehead on the hard stone floor, she prayed fervently, when a sweet voice interrupted her prayer, calling her name:
– Mariana, my daughter!
She immediately stood up and saw before her a beautiful Lady, shining with light, holding the Child Jesus in Her left arm and holding in Her right hand a golden crosier adorned with precious stones.
– Beautiful Lady, who are you and what do you want? – she asked, overflowing with happiness.
– I am Mary of Good Success, Queen of Heaven and Earth. I have come to comfort your afflicted heart. I hold the crosier in my right arm, for I myself want to rule this monastery of mine, as Prioress and Mother.
The humble nun’s conversation with the celestial Visitor lasted about two hours. When she left, only the flickering light of the lamp illuminated the chapel, but Mother Mariana felt strengthened and prepared to fight and to suffer for the love of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
“My Son desires that you have a statue made of Me”
And she had no shortage of sufferings and trials! Five years later, at dawn on January 16th, 1599, the Blessed Virgin appeared to her again to comfort her. She told her of God’s plans for the monastery, made prophetic revelations regarding the future of Ecuador and the persecutions that religious communities there would suffer, and added:
– For this reason, my Most Holy Son wants you to have a statue made of Me , just as you see Me, and place it on the stall of the prioress, so that from there I can govern my monastery. In my right hand you will place the crosier and the keys of the cloister, as a sign of ownership and authority; in my left hand you will place the Child Jesus: firstly, so that mortals may understand how powerful I am to appease divine justice and obtain pardon for every sinner who turns to Me with a contrite heart; secondly, so that my daughters may understand that I am showing them and presenting my Most Holy Son as a model of religious perfection. If they come to Me, I will lead them to Him.
“No other sculptor will be worthy of this grace”
The nun pondered shyly:
– Beautiful Lady, your beauty enchants me. Oh, if only I could leave this wretched earth and rise with you to Heaven! But allow me to say that no human being, even the most expert in the art of sculpture, will be able to carve your marvellous image in wood, as you ask of me. Send my Seraphic Father for this, so that he can execute this work in the choicest wood, with the Angels of Heaven as craftsmen, because I won’t be able to explain myself, and even less will I be able to give your measurements.
– Don’t be alarmed, my daughter,” replied the Holy Virgin, “I will fulfil your request. As for my height, measure it yourself with the seraphic cord you have round your waist.
The young prioress made a reverent objection:
– Beautiful Lady, my beloved Mother, how could I dare to touch your divine forehead, when not even the angelic spirits can do it? You are the living Ark of the Covenant between poor mortals and God; and if Uzzah fell dead just for having held up the holy Ark to prevent it from falling to the ground (cf. II Sam 6:6-7), how much more so I, a poor, weak woman!…
– I rejoice in your humble fear and I see your ardent love for your heavenly Mother. Bring and place your cord in my right hand and touch the other end to my feet.
Filled with joy, love and reverence, Mother Mariana did as she was told by Mary Most Holy, and then Our Lady continued:
– There, my daughter, your Heavenly Mother’s measurement. Give it to my servant Francisco del Castillo, explaining to him my features and my posture; he will work outwardly on my statue, because he has a delicate conscience and observes the Commandments of God and the Church with exactitude; no other sculptor will be worthy of this grace. Help him with your prayers and your humble suffering.
“Having recourse to Me, they will placate the divine wrath”
In another apparition, at the same time as the previous ones, that is, shortly after the stroke of midnight, the Virgin Mother of God foretold a calamitous time for the Church in Ecuador, a time in which there would be almost no innocence left among children, nor modesty among women, and She added:
– With this, your successors will suffer; they will placate the divine wrath by turning to Me under the invocation of Good Success, whose image I ask you and order you to have made for the consolation and sustenance of my monastery and the faithful of those times. This devotion will be the lightning rod placed between divine justice and the perfidious world.
This very day, when dawn breaks, you will go to the Bishop and tell him that I have asked and ordered you to have my image sculpted and be placed at the head of my community, in order to take complete possession of what belongs to Me in so many ways. He should consecrate it with the holy oil and give it the name of Mary of Good Success of the Purification or Candelmas.
And She insisted:
– Now you must have my holy image produced without delay, just as you see me, and hurry to place it where I have indicated.
“The perfection of the work is my responsibility”
The humble religious repeated the same timid objection she had made five years earlier:
– Beautiful Lady and dear Mother of my soul, the insignificant little ant that you have in your presence will not be able to describe to any artist your lovely features, your beauty, nor your stature; I have no words to explain it, and there is no one on earth capable of doing the work you ask of me.
– Let nothing of this concern you, my beloved daughter. The perfection of the work will be my responsibility. Gabriel, Michael and Raphael will secretly take charge of the making my statue. You must call Francisco del Castillo, who understands art, and give him a brief description of my features, exactly as you have seen me, since I have appeared to you for this purpose so many times.
And for the second time, the Holy Virgin ordered her to measure her height:
– As for my stature, take the cord around your waist and measure Me without fear, because a Mother like Me is pleased with the respectful and humble confidence of her daughters.
– Queen of Heaven and beloved Mother, here is the cord to measure you with. Who will hold it on your beautiful forehead, adorned with that beautiful crown with which the Most Holy Trinity has crowned you? I don’t dare, nor could I with my small height.
– Dear child, place one end of the cord in my hand and I will place it on my forehead, while you place the other end on my right foot.
Our Lady then took one end of the cord and placed it on her forehead, leaving the enraptured nun to place the other end on the tip of her right foot. The cord was a little short, but it miraculously stretched like an elastic to attain the stature of the celestial Lady.
Features similar to those of the Mother who is in Heaven
“This very day, at dawn, you will go to the Bishop,” the Blessed Virgin had commanded. Mother Mariana, however, foreseeing various obstacles, postponed the fulfilment of the order she had received. Twelve days later, Our Lady appeared to her again, resplendent with light as always, but this time silent and looking at her with amiable sternness.
After hearing a maternal warning, followed by explanations that dispelled all her fears, the nun replied:
– Beautiful Lady, your rebuke is just. I beg your forgiveness and mercy, and I promise to make amends. This very day I will speak to the Bishop about commencing work on your statue.
That same day, she told Bishop Salvador de Ribera of the order she had received from the Queen of Heaven. The bishop listened carefully to her account, tested her objectivity by means of many tricky questions and, in the end, gave his full approval to the project; he even undertook to help with everything necessary for its prompt realization.
Mother Mariana then hurried to hire the sculptor Francisco del Castillo. She told him:
– As you are first and foremost a good Catholic and also a skilful sculptor, I would like to entrust you with a very special task, to be carried out with the utmost care: sculpting an image of the Virgin Mary, which must have heavenly features, similar to those of our Blessed Mother who is in Heaven in body and soul; I will give you the measure, as the statue must have the exact stature of our Heavenly Queen.
Francisco del Castillo received this task as an extraordinary grace from Our Lady and categorically refused any payment for his services. He spent several days searching Quito and the surrounding area for the best wood and then set to work.
He worked with such love and felt such consolation that he couldn’t hold back his tears.
Donors soon came forward for three important pieces of jewellery: the silver keys, the crown and the crosier. At the request of the nuns, the sculptor did all the work, not in his workshop, but in the monastery’s upper choir.
Rays of light come from her face
The solemn liturgical blessing of the sacred image was scheduled for February 2nd, 1611.
Three weeks before this deadline, only one “small” detail remained: to paint the countenance in tones worthy to portray the face of the Holy Virgin of Virgins.
Master del Castillo decided to do some research in search of the best paints; he set off with this in mind, promising to be back on January 16th to carry out the delicate task, by far the most important of his work.
The nuns’ expectations were great when, at dawn on the 16th, they went to the chapel to praise Our Lady with the customary singing of the Little Office.
As they approached the upper choir, they heard melodious harmonies that deeply moved them. They quickly entered and – oh, wonder of wonders! – the entire area was inundated with a heavenly light and resounded with the enrapturing voices of angels singing the hymn Salve Sancta Parens (Hail, Holy Mother).
It was then that they perceived the extraordinary fact: the statue had been miraculously completed!
Overflowing with emotion, they gazed at that heavenly face, from which rays were shining that illuminated the whole church. Glowing with this radiance, the countenance of the holy image appeared majestic, serene, sweet, amiable and attractive, as if inviting her daughters to approach her with confidence and give her a filial embrace of joy and welcome.
The countenance of the Child Jesus expressed love and tenderness towards His spouses, who were so dear to Him and His Mother.
Each of them progressed in their spiritual life on that day, with an increased understanding of their vocation and love for their Divine Spouse, resolving to fulfil the rule and their personal duties with greater perfection.
Nothing in it was made by human hands
At the agreed time, Francisco de Castillo arrived, happy to have found excellent paints to finish the sculptural work.
Without telling him what had happened, Mother Mariana and some other nuns accompanied him to the upper choir. It is impossible to describe the pious artist’s surprise and emotion.
– Mothers, what do I see? This exquisite image is not my work! I don’t know what my heart feels, but this is an angelic work. No sculptor, no matter how skilful, will ever be able to imitate such perfection and such rare beauty!
Saying this, he fell to his knees at the feet of the holy image and unburdened his heart, letting tears flow from his eyes in superabundance.
He then got up and drew up a document, declaring under oath: firstly, that the image was not his work, but that of the Angels, as it was not the sculpture he had left six days earlier in the upper choir of the monastery; secondly, that in his already long life of sixty-seven years, he had never seen, not even in Spain, a skin tone to match that one.
Not content with this, he set off without delay in search of Bishop Salvador de Ribera, to whom he gave a detailed account of what had happened, reaffirming that nothing in that image was the work of his hands: neither the sculpture nor, even less so, the painting and the colouration of the skin.
It was thus well documented that the statue of Our Lady of Good Success was indeed executed by the Angels.
The Virgin Mary fulfilled her promise to Mother Mariana to the letter: “The perfection of the work will be my responsibility. Gabriel, Michael and Raphael will secretly take charge of the making of my statue”.
By Fr. Ricardo Del Campo, EP
taken from Heralds of the Gospel Magazine, February 2019 (For the writing of the article various episodes were selected and arranged from Manuel Sousa Pereira, OFM)
Compiled by Roberta MacEwan
