Nuestra Señora de las Aguas

Q: I have just heard of Our Lady of the Water - Lady of Pains, do you have anny information about Our Blessed Lady under this title ?

A: The image of Mary, Nuestra Señora de las Aguas (Our Lady of the Waters) shows the Sorrowful Mother and has enjoyed a long tradition of popular devotion.

According to the chronicles of the convent, the title of “Our Lady of the Waters” was given to this image for having saved a priest who was in imminent danger of shipwreck. Acknowledging his benefactress, the priest left in his testament a perpetual annuity so that her feast could be celebrated every year on Friday of Passion Week (Friday before Good Friday).

Another report relates the title of the image to an event of 1714. At that time a group of native Indians led by a priest walked towards the Church of Jesús María, asking for permission to celebrate a religious function before the image of the Virgin (who had walked over the waters). They insisted that they had seen the Virgin holding back the waters in order to avoid a flood that threatened them, and that her image could be found in the convent. The religious began to be suspicious, and going to the choir, to their great surprise they found that the image of the Sorrowful Mother had wet garments, especially the hem, and also the feet of the image.

They moved the image to the Church and the Indians confirmed that this had been the image they had seen. Information was collected about the events, and it was acknowledged that one could not attribute to natural causes the wetness that covered the image. Henceforth, on July 1 of that year the ecclesiastical authorities declared that one could believe that the Blessed Virgin had worked the miracle and that through her intercession they were spared from the dangers of the flood.

To this day the image is venerated and is now guarded by the Fathers of the Heart of Mary.