Apparition
Our Lady of Las Lajas
Private revelation · Guáitara Canyon near Ipiales, Nariño, Colombia, 1754
In 1754 María Mueses de Quiñones and her small deaf-mute daughter Rosa took shelter from a storm in a rock cleft above the Guáitara canyon; according to the tradition the child spoke for the first time, saying that a lady was calling her, and an image of the Virgin with the Child was afterwards found on the face of the flagstone. The sanctuary of Las Lajas, built across the gorge, grew from that place.
Background
The Church's recognition here has been of the cult: Pope Pius XII granted the image a canonical coronation in 1952 and the title of minor basilica to the sanctuary shortly afterwards. Popular accounts of scientific tests on the rock circulate widely; they are not the basis of the Church's approval, which rests on the enduring devotion of the faithful, and they should not be repeated as though they were.
Location
Guáitara Canyon near Ipiales, Nariño
Country
Colombia
Approved status
Private revelation
Year of apparition
1754
Visionaries
- María Mueses de Quiñones
- her daughter Rosa
Subject
marian
Feast day
September 16
Decision year
1952
Content subtype
unapproved_apparition
Decision authority
Pope Pius XII, by the canonical coronation of the image of Our Lady of Las Lajas