₦airaland Forum

' By NICHOLAS CASEY
APRIL 21, 2016
MONTECRISTI, Ecuador — The
earth shook and the steeple fell,
taking most of the bell tower with
it. A white facade gave way,
leaving the pews open to the street.
But amid the wreckage at the
basilica, one object remained
untouched: Our Mother of
Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin
Mary for which the church was
named.
Dressed in gold robes and wearing
a tiny crown, she is only about
three feet tall. But the statue, which
landed on these shores from Spain
in the 16th century, has long
played an outsize role in the
history of Montecristi.
She survived bombardment by
pirates and became a rallying point
for Catholics when a secular
government expelled priests
generations later. Every November,
hundreds of thousands of pilgrims
trek from across Ecuador for nine
days of festivities in her honor.
Now, after a 7.8-magnitude
earthquake upended the nation last
weekend, the survival of Our
Mother of Monserrate has become
a symbol of the persistence of this
hillside town.
“She is the mother who has taken
care of us through this
earthquake,” said the Rev. Ángel
Toaquiza, the priest who looks
after the broken church. “And I
think a sign of this is that she
suffered no damage that day.”
That she stands at all, he said, was
no less than a miracle.
Eight people from Montecristi were
among the more than 570 who
have died throughout Ecuador
since the earthquake struck.
Gabriela Rocío Mero, 36, a teacher
from this town, had gone with her
daughter, 8, and her niece, 9, on
Saturday evening to buy school
supplies in the port town of Manta
when a building collapsed and
killed all three.

The body of the mother was found
on Monday. On Tuesday night,
after the remains of the two
children were discovered and
buried, neighbors from an alley
beside the church gathered for a
nightlong vigil.
“She was very religious, very
sincere,” said Adriana Palma, a
friend since childhood.
The vigil was being held under the
rubble of the bell tower. With the
church closed, the only place for
the memorial was outside, Ms.
Palma said.
That night, the damage of the
church seemed to weigh on people
at the vigil almost as much as the
deaths in Montecristi.
The cross at the top of the bell
tower used to be the first thing
people would see when they
approached the town from the
road, said Ms. Palma’s mother.
Even sailors could spot the white
church against the mountains when
they came from sea.
“It is the pride of this town,” said
Fabricio Quijije, a neighbor.
Times like these were precisely
when Montecristi would turn to
Our Mother of Monserrate for
solace and guidance.
According to local legend, the
statue was sent to South America
by King Charles V of Spain, as part
of a pair with a statue called the
Virgin of Mercy. The king intended
the second statute to remain in
Ecuador, while Monserrate was
supposed to make its way to the
viceroy in Lima.
But the statue had other plans.
When the boat set sail for Peru, it
was mysteriously unable leave the
port, according to the tale. The
captain took it as a sign that Our
Mother of Monserrate should stay
in Ecuador.
Since then, residents say, the statue
has intervened repeatedly for them
over the generations. Nearly
everyone has a story.
Father Toaquiza remembered a
terminal cancer patient from
Guayaquil who was cured after
visiting the church. Luzmila
Morales, a catechism teacher, said
that just this month, even before
the quake struck, she and other
parishioners had escaped when a
hillside collapsed, leaving her bus
under an avalanche.
“We began to pray,” she said. “She
covered us with her shroud.”
The statue’s survival of Saturday’s
earthquake has especially captured
the imaginations of those of
Montecristi, a sign of hope in a
week with little good news.

Dalinda Bravo, a 28-year-old from
nearby Portoviejo in training to
become a nun, recalled sitting in
the church on Saturday evening, as
she had countless times before,
praying and singing songs to the
Virgin Mary.
Suddenly a roar echoed through
the church. Cracks began to tear
across the walls. A statue of St.
Peter fell and broke in two.
“It felt like we were in a blender,”
she said.
Father Toaquiza was having coffee
across the street, preparing for
7:30 Mass, when the tremors
began.
“Thank God we hadn’t started
Mass when the bell tower fell,” he
said. “That was the miracle.”
Four days later, he gathered with a
group of about 200 to celebrate the
evening Mass, which has been
moved outdoors.
The sun set after a hot afternoon.
Behind him, sparrows flew in and
out of a crack in the basilica walls.
“I have been asked by people how
we have been affected by this
earthquake,” he began. “Do we still
believe in Our Mother?”
“Yes,” said the crowd.
But the question of what would
become of the church worried
those who attended. Could it be
repaired? Or would money need to
be found to tear it down and build
anew?
“Please let someone rebuild our
temple. Let us build it with even
more love,” said a woman who
took the microphone.
Others, like Silvia Quijije, whose
sister Gabriela died with the two
children Saturday, saw hope even
in the broken church.
“We believe the Virgin saved us,”
she said. “She sacrificed her house
to save our lives, like how Jesus
died for our sins.”
She pointed to the collapsed bell
tower near her home and said:
“The tower fell into the church. It
didn’t fall into our house.”

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pics

i hope she comes down to salvage the situation

Yet thou must not worship any image ,for the Lord thy God is a jealous one

talktonase:
i hope she comes down to salvage the situation

to a great extent, she has salvaged the situation by giving them hope even in the face of ruins. To them, she is a beacon of hope.

TheLegal:
to a great extent, she has salvaged the situation by giving them hope even in the face of ruins. To them, she is a beacon of hope.

And sometimes hope is just all we need.