The image was carved in 1583 by Francisco Tito Yupanqui, an indigenous Andean sculptor, for the confraternity of his town of Copacabana on Lake Titicaca, after earlier attempts had been refused as unskilled. It was enshrined at Copacabana, where the sanctuary became the chief place of Marian pilgrimage in the Andes and is served by an Augustinian community. Our Lady of Copacabana is honoured as patroness of Bolivia, and her feast is kept there on 5 August.

The devotion is a landmark in the inculturation of the faith in the Andes, since the image was made by an Andean hand for Andean Christians rather than imported. Ecclesia in America notes how deeply Marian piety shaped the identity of the peoples of the continent; Copacabana shows what that means concretely, a people receiving Christ through his Mother in their own artistic and human idiom.

August 5

Bolivia

The statue is of the Candelaria type: the Virgin standing, the Child on one arm and a candle in the other hand, carved in wood, gilded and vested in richly embroidered robes with a crown. It is kept in its niche above the high altar rather than carried in procession.

• Virgen de Copacabana
• Nuestra Señora de Copacabana

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