LA NEGRITA PILGRIMAGE

Costa Rica's Patron Saint

They are joined by pilgrims from neighboring countries and dignitaries including the President of Costa Rica.

The Black Madonna's Place In Costa Rica History

That year, far north of Costa Rica, Massachusetts Bay Colony banished a religious troublemaker named Roger Williams who advocated for religious freedom and against confiscation of Indian lands. You may have heard of him as the founder of Rhode Island and the Baptist Church.

That same year, the French New World explorer, Samuel de Champlain, founder of Quebec, died, survived by his three Indian daughters: Faith, Hope, and Charity.

And, it was on that same year, August 2 to be exact, that a poor Catholic woman, Juana Pereira, said to be dark-skinned and of mixed blood, forever became part of Costa Rica history.

It is said that while Juana was searching for firewood, she came to a stream where, atop a boulder, there was a black stone of a Madonna and child.

Taking it home, she soon discovered it had gone missing but, when she returned to the stream, there it sat on the same boulder.

Again---and again---she took it home. Again---and again---it reappeared on the same boulder.

Frightened by what appeared to be something supernatural, the stone was taken to a local priest, Father Baltazar de Grado, only to have it disappear and reappear on the boulder.

Convinced that the Madonna was a blessing from God, a church was built over the boulder that bore La Negrita. The boulder remains in place to this day though the Madonna has now been placed in the Basilica.

In order to spread the blessings and fame of La Negrita, Father Grado instituted a fund (to which he generously donated upon his death) committed to holding an annual celebration of the arrival of Our Lady of the Angels.

Now, despite the passage of 375 years, millions of pilgrims continue to travel to Cartago to celebrate the Black Madonna every August 2.

It's difficult for many folks taking Costa Rica vacations to appreciate the meaning that La Negrita has to this little country or the Roman Catholic Church. But, consider.

In 1824, La Negrita became the Patron Saint of Costa Rica.

Thirty-eighty years later, Pope Pius IX declared that all who visit Costa Rica's Madonna's sanctuary will receive a full pardon of their sins.

And, in 1983, Pope John Paul II made a pastoral visit. Whether Catholic or not, we recommend visiting the Basilica of Our Lady of Angels and its La Negrita, worn smooth over the centuries by believers.

Allow yourself to step back in time four centuries, when Roger Williams took a stand for religious freedom in the New World.

When, Faith, Hope, and Charity were real people, not just words.

And when a poor, dark-skinned mixed race woman, in a time of terrible racial prejudice, brought the Black Madonna to the world.

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