Saint Who?
Saints Who Promoted the Rosary
Our Lady of Las Lajas
(1754)Feast: September 16
The image of Our Lady of Las Lajas, imprinted on a slab of rock in Colombia, depicts Mary holding the infant Jesus. Beneath them are Saints Dominic and Francis. Jesus hands Francis a friar’s cord, while Mary presents Dominic with a rosary. No one is sure how this image came to be. Composed of glowing colors, it is as delicate as a Fra Angelico painting; it seems to be produced by the rock itself. Geologists believe the image goes several feet deep.
In 1754, according to tradition, a woman named Maria and her daughter Rosa were caught in a storm and forced to shelter among the nearby lajas (rock slabs). Rosa, deaf and mute, suddenly spoke: “There’s a woman here with a boy in her arms.” Later, the girl returned to the spot. Her mother found her, apparently talking with the lady and playing with the boy.
They kept this secret, however, until Rosa fell ill and died. Maria carried her daughter’s body to the rock, where she was restored to life. Astonished neighbors soon arrived, and found stamped on the cliff face the images of Jesus, his mother, and the two saints whose orders had evangelized Colombia. Many more miracles occurred, and a large church was built. In 1952, Pius XII granted the image a canonical coronation. Today, the church is a minor basilica.
Infant Jesus, renew the mendicant orders
through the power of the rosary
and holy poverty.
