The Virgin of Mercy is the patron saint of the Americas and also the patron saint of Spain, this virgin is considered the virgin of the prisoners because her story is based on religious rebellion, but Spain not only has a patron saint but also praises the Virgin of Pilar, patron saint of Spain.
Catholicism and the Virgin Mary
Human beings are governed by different social groups, different cultures and customs that worship different images or saints such as the Virgin of Mercy, in the case of Catholicism or the religion of Christian Catholics are a huge congregation throughout the world and can be called as a social group, they praise different saints among them the Virgin Mary and other saints because they all have and praise the same God who is the creator of the world, heaven and earth as well as humans, animals, plants and species according to what is told in the Holy Bible.
God created the world in seven days and man and woman in turn, and centuries later, the same God sent His Son into the world to pay for all the sins of the world and chose a woman to be the mother of His Son Jesus and a man to be the symbolic father.
After the birth of Jesus, the history of the world changed, because not only did He come to pay for the sins of the world, but He also came to leave His prayer and renew the accusations that were not from God, different apostles accompanied Him until the day of His death, where He was crucified and the third day He was resurrected, it is said that when He was resurrected, He appeared to His Mother before His Ascension, it is worth mentioning that when Jesus was crucified, the Virgin wept at His feet and since then she is called the Virgin of Sorrows.
His mother is the Virgin Mary who became the mother of everyone in the world, under the consecration of the Holy Spirit the Virgin Mary was chosen by God and from her birth she was free from sin, from evil thoughts, because she was going to be the mother of the Son of God.
After the death of Jesus of Nazareth, a religion began to grow in the world that did not stop and every day there were more followers of Jesus, the Son of God, only this time they called themselves Christians, which later became one of the largest and most dominant religions in the world, the Catholic Christians not only pray to God, they also pray to images that are called saints, such as St Joseph, St Benedict, St Michael, among other saints.
There is also the worship of the Mother of God, the Virgin Mary, but later we will talk about the Virgin Mary and the miracles she has done in the world, before that it is important to note that Catholics have different customs such as prayers, but is it necessary to know how to pray to ask God and His Blessed Mother? When we talk about faith we have to understand that Christians believe in something spiritual that goes beyond their sight, beyond what they can see, to pray you don’t need to know how to do it, you just need to have faith, faith in God or faith in the Creator.
To know more about this religion it is important to enter it and when I talk about entering it is to know that there are two possible things in this world, the first one is that it can be true and the second one is that it can be a lie, but without a doubt everyone has a task to know that from the truth there is only another truth and from the lie there is only another lie, Catholic Christians believe in one truth and therefore everything is true, miracles, faith, religion, everything starts from a belief, believing means learning that not everything is unreal but also not everything is real.
I leave you with a video of a song to the Virgin of Mercedes.
Biography of the Virgin of Mercy
The Virgin of Mercy, also known as the Virgin Mary the Mother of God, it is important to emphasise that in the Catholic religion different virgins are praised as the Virgin of Guadalupe who is the patron saint of Mexico, each one of them is the same Mother of God the Virgin Mary, now why is she called the Virgin of Mercy also called the Mercy, the Virgin of Mercy is known as the Mother of America which means that she is known and praised throughout America and Europe.
The Marian invocation that Catholics venerate for the Virgin Mary, mother of Jesus of Nazareth, what is the history of this woman in Catholicism? Mary was born in Nazareth of Galilee and was married to Joseph, a humble carpenter, but before their marriage an angel appeared to Mary and told her that she was carrying the Son of God in her womb, then he appeared to Joseph so that he would understand Mary’s pregnancy, and so it happened and Mary gave birth without having been touched by a man to conceive Jesus, for this reason she is called the Virgin Mary by the faithful.
The Virgin Mary is not only called Mary, as I have already said, she is also known by other names, in this case we must start with the Virgin of Mercy, the devotion to this virgin spread quickly in Catalonia and soon spread throughout Spain, from the thirteenth century the story of the Virgin of Mercy spread to America, Italy, France and other parts of the world, The Virgin of Mercy is known as the Merciful Virgin of all believers, her story goes back to the year 1218, where she appeared to a man who made her appear and took her to all parts of the world, the devotion to the Virgin of Mercy is rich and full of faith and hope for thousands of devotees in all parts of the world, but these lands share the story of another virgin patron saint of Spain, the Virgin of Monserrat.
History of the Virgin of Mercy
The history of the Virgin of Mercy is a great story and it is important to understand it to understand why she is praised in different circumstances, according to what happened on 1 August 1218, the founder of her name Pedro Nolasco, called saint years later by the Catholic Church, was presented with the Virgin of Mercy and she became known as the Virgin of Mercy and asked him to begin to create a religious order in her name to free the innocent captives by the wars of men.
At that time in history, the Iberian Peninsula was dominated by Muslims and the so-called Saracen pirates, these men left the coasts of the Mediterranean desolate, as they captured all the men they found and took them to North Africa, Pedro Nolasco followed the Order of the Virgin of Mercy and its creation was called the Celestial, Royal and Military Order of Mercy, All this was thanks to the help of King James I the Conqueror, the purpose of Nolasco’s work was to pray and ask for all the captives, it is even said that those who were not taken were given to the Order to free the noble Christian captives, and they always left with the faith that the Virgin of Mercy would help them in their sorrows and give them strength to go forward wherever they were going.
I leave you with this video on the history of Our Lady of Mercy.
Since then, the Virgin of Mercy has been venerated by Christians as the Lady of prisoners, of the underprivileged, of the humiliated, but also as the Mother of hope, of strength and of faith, of people who have suffered from the misfortunes of others and who, through no fault of their own, should be worthy of God’s spirituality in heaven.
The religious order was spread throughout the Americas by the Mercedarians, currently the Virgin of Mercy is the patron saint of several countries in the Americas such as Peru, Venezuela, Ecuador, Cuba, Dominican Republic and other countries in the Americas, received the arrival of the blessing of the great Virgin of Mercy, it is important to highlight several facts such as the first Mercedarian convent that was founded in Santiago de Cali in the year 1536.
Another important fact is that Peru currently has the largest number of devotees of the Virgin of Mercy in the Americas, and the last important fact is that in Bolivia there is great devotion to the Virgin of Mercy and in her honour the vestments are changed three times a year, the first time on 3 August in honour of the weeping of the Virgin of Mercy on 3 August, the second time on 24 September in honour of the feast of the Virgin of Mercy, and the third time at Christmas.
Prayers to the Virgin of Mercy
The prayers to the Virgin of Mercy, Catholics praise their saints through prayers, supplications and prayers, first of all it is necessary to understand that when we talk about prayer Christians tend to gather in ceremonies such as patron saint festivals to worship their faithful miraculous saints, in the case of the Virgin of Mercy every September 24th the faithful celebrate the feast of the same and there are cults and prayers, to pray you need faith and faith depends on the faith of each devotee of the Virgin, Usually, when they pray, they ask for the prisoners, for the sick, for the sad, for food, among other reasons for prayer, the important thing in each prayer is the faith and the strength with which it is asked, according to different believers and followers of the religion they start from the fact that the greatness of the miracles are really from God but entrusted by His saints, which means that the Virgin of Mercy and the rest of the virgins and saints only do the will of God.
“Ho! Virgin of Mercy, Mother of God, we ask you for our children, for the children of others, we ask you, my Mother, to increase our faith, great Lady of Mercy, you who can do everything, ask God for the humble, do not abandon us and give us every day what we deserve before God our Lord, Amen” The prayers of the faithful are always based on petitions, but each prayer comes from the bottom of the heart of each person who prays to the Virgin of Mercy, They also pray for the family: “Mother of God, today I turn to you, not only to ask you for me, but also for my family, for my children, for my husband, open their hearts, I ask you, Mother of God, that their souls always find a good way, you who are blessed among all women, I thank you for your sacrifices, for taking care of us and blessing us always, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, until the end of our days, Amen”.
The prayers of the Christians are a fundamental part of the religion, because in them they express their feelings, their sufferings, their requests and their gratitude, you can also pray to another Virgin like the prayer to the Virgin of Chiquinquira, the patron saint of Venezuela.
I leave you with a video of the songs in prayer to the Virgin of Mercedes.
Milagros de la virgen de las Mercedes
When we speak of miracles, we are referring to actions and situations in which unexpected things happen, blessed winds, increased food and joy in hearts, the miracles of the Virgin of Mercy can be infinite, because not all are counted and not all are written down, Although the prisoners did not lose hope and prayed to the Virgin of Mercy, it is a great miracle that in the face of despair and sadness they remained faithful to the Creator and to their helpers in faith, such as the Virgin Mary. It is worth mentioning that the Virgin Mary is also called the Assumption of the Virgin and is known as the same in body and soul in heaven.
Mr Vicente Saltos, the parish priest of Our Lady of Mercy in Porto Viejo, told a miraculous story about the faith of the Virgin of Mercy, a lady was diagnosed with cancer and her doctor asked her to start chemotherapy as soon as possible, but this lady was a faithful follower of the Virgin of Mercy and with great faith she asked for her improvement, she did not want to go through the medical procedures to cure the cancer because her faith was so great that when she travelled back to Quito her doctor told her that her cancer was gone, At the beginning of this letter I mentioned something about faith, for Christians this fact is synonymous with faith, hope and belief, for other people it can simply be a fictitious fact, but this fictitious fact is a miraculous fact for all those people who pray with great faith and believe in the Virgin of Mercy.
There is a miraculous event that happened a few years ago, exactly in 1587, when the corsair Covendish decided to attack the port of Paitento and in his anger he set it on fire, the flames consumed everything around him, including the church where the image of the Virgin of Mercy was, but a man appeared and bravely entered the church and managed to save the image of the Virgin, this fact was considered a great miracle, although the name of the man who risked his life for the Virgin is not known, he was a great man and showed great faith before God.
Another miraculous event took place centuries later, on 24 September 1741, when the English pirate Jorge Anson attacked the town and took the image of the Virgin of Mercy as a token of his heroism. It is said that when he was on the ship, the sea began to rage and he nervously shot at the neck of the image, but it began to bleed and in fear he threw it into the sea and the image travelled through the sea until it reached the shore, where it was found by some fishermen.
Here is another video about the Virgen de las Mercedes.
Our Lady of Mercy, Patroness of Prisoners
The Virgin of Mercy is the Virgin of prisoners and detainees, her name and order are linked to injustice, lack of respect, intolerance and wickedness, because the miraculous Virgin implies love, implies tolerance, implies respect for others, for this reason, every 24th of September, not only the feast of the Virgin of Mercy is celebrated, but also the feast of the patron saint of prisoners, when someone has a family member in prison or lost, they ask the Virgin of Mercy with their prayers to help them while they are inside.
Prisoners from different parts of America and Spain as well as from all over Europe pray to the Virgin of Mercy not to lose hope, pray for their freedom and pray for their families, many of those who are in prison or deprived of their liberty have committed crimes, some are minor crimes and others are unforgivable crimes, but to show the love that God has for His children He sent His Son made flesh into the world to die for sins, for this reason anyone who does harm can be forgiven by God but first they must repent of their sins, and for a better sign of repentance is the faith that some recruits show to the Virgin, people tend to do harm but are able to repent and let God make them better people, no one knows but the men who have gone through despair and seek salvation before it is too late, meanwhile those who are in prison have faith and celebrate the Virgin of Mercy and pray with her to be better people, change for their children and their family but above all for them.
The Virgin of Mercy in Santeria
When we talk about Santeria, it is important to emphasise that it is a religion and if it has to do with the Virgin of Mercy, it is because our planet Earth is linked to different customs, the first of which is the religion that was imposed throughout America by the Spanish or Columbus’ Catholicism, not leaving behind the customs of the Africans, who are also mixed in America, because it is no secret to anyone that black Africans were brought as slaves by the whites, The Virgin of Mercy is worshipped in Cuba as in any other country, but the customs are not the same as in Argentina, for example, because the followers of the Virgin of Mercy in Cuba dress in white every 24th of September to praise the Virgin, and this is where the theory of Santeria and the Virgin begins, the black Africans brought their religion with them and through the years they became involved with the Christian believers.
Obalata is the god of the Yoruba religion, brought from Africa by the black recruits, these believers call themselves Orisha, and is the creator of the earth, sculptor of man, owner of the heads of men, the one who controls the peace of the world, represents purity, truth and justice, the god Obbatalá is pushed with Jesus Christ and the virgin of the Mercedes, This God is also called Allah, Bá, in the past the devotees of Obbatalá were immersed in the prayers of the Virgin of Mercy and since then the files are dressed in white as part of their customs, there is a big question, do those who enter the cult to pray do it for the Virgin of Mercy or do they do it for Obbatalá? The answer can be both, they are simply beliefs and should be respected as part of each person’s culture.
Virgin of Mercy Dominican Republic
The ceremony of the Virgin of Mercy is celebrated in several parts of the American continent among which is the Dominican Republic which have as patron saint the Virgin of Mercy, the festivities and customs are not left behind after the prayers and supplications to the Virgin of Mercy the faithful carry flowers and make offerings for the miracles granted, Every year on the 24th of September, the community of the Dominican Republic begins to dress its streets with joy and celebration to begin praising the Virgin of Mercy, also in the prisons there are celebrations where family members from the outskirts of the prisons begin to praise prayers and songs for their children, friends, spouses or parents who are in prison.
It should be noted that in America or the countries of America have a patron saint as is the case of Argentina that praise the Virgin of Lujan, who appreciated or came to the banks of the river to stay and bless their land, in these countries also praise the Virgin of Mercy.
Virgin of Mercy of Venezuela
The Virgin of Mercy in Venezuela, this country consecrates the Virgin of Mercy as one of its patron saints, every 24th of September they celebrate the feast of the Virgin and she is considered the patron saint of prisoners, so that every holiday in the prisons there are prayers to the Virgin Mary or the Virgin of Mercy, In the case of Venezuela, every corner of its states celebrates the day of the Virgin of Mercy, also called the Virgin of Mercy, among the cities that can be mentioned are Zea, Merida, Rio Chico, Lobatera, Guarico, Tachira, Anzoategui, Curiepe, Miranda and Las Mercedes in Caucagua, in these states and cities the Virgin of Mercy is venerated with total honour and faith; Venezuela is a country rich in religious culture and therefore they praise their patron saint, the Virgin of Coromoto.
Basilica de la Merced and its devotion
The first Basilica de la Merced or Virgen de las Mercedes was built between 1765 and 1775, this Basilica is venerated by all the devotees, especially by the Spanish citizens who feel honoured that the Virgin appeared in their country, every day the faithful devotees of the Virgin meet in this Basilica to pray for their children, for the world and to ask God for every day of life.
The most important thing before religion is the faith of the heart, with the humility with which one prays and asks, the Virgin of Mercy is history in these continents, her miracles, her wishes, the magic of her spirituality are what make millions of people believe in her and keep in her their hopes, their beliefs, their needs and their gratitude, the Christian Catholics not only praise and love the Virgin of Mercy, they also consider her the Blessed Mother of all women.
Here is a final video about faith and devotion to the Virgin of Mercy
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https://youtu.be/xKe8RIausFY
