May 8 - Solemnity of Our Lady of Lujan
On May 8th we celebrate the Solemnity of Our Lady of Lujan. (Although this feast is not a solemnity in the Universal calendar of the Church, for the members of the Religious Family of the Incarnate Word, it is a solemnity).
On November 25, 2011, the Congregation for Divine Worship issued a decree naming the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of the Immaculate and Pure Conception of Lujan as Patron of the Institute Servants of the Lord and the Virgin of Matará.
Since the beginnings of our religious family (the IVE was founded in 1984), we have had a particular devotion and tender love towards Our Lady of Lujan, considering her intercession the principal cause of the vocations to our religious family (SSVM Circular Letter – May 3, 2011). However, it is clear that she is the one who has chosen our small religious family and has kept us under her special protection from the start.
She is the patroness of Argentina (where our Religious Family was born), but has accompanied our missionaries all around the globe. Her image is found in nearly every chapel of every one of our communities throughout the world.
Going beyond the Argentine culture, she has been received with great affection, confidence, and devotion by those souls whom we attend; they find in her a great comfort and source of strength. For example, in Papua New Guinea, where the language is Pidgen, the locals have adopted her as mother and affectionately call her “Mama Lujan”.
We ask you to join us in praying to Our Lady of Lujan for all our missions and missionaries, especially those in the most difficult places!
Mama Lujan in Some of Our Missions
The Story of Our Lady of Lujan
From a correspondence from the Mercedarian friar, St. Peter Nolasco of St. Mary (Year 1737: Archive of the the National Basilica in Luján) Origin of the dedication to Our Lady of Luján
At that time, the kingdoms of Portugal and Castile were ruled by one crown, having much trade with a city in Brazil. There was a Portuguese man, a resident of Cordova, who founded a farm in Sumampa, Argentina. He wrote to a fellow countryman in Brazil, asking for him to bring a small statue of the Immaculate Conception to place it in a chapel he was building on his property. With this duty, the friend purchased two, had them boxed and loaded it onto his cart for Sumampa. Late one night, he arrived at the Luján River. The man’s name was Rosendo.
Wanting to continue his journey in the morning, the oxen were yoked, but they would not move the cart. Those who saw were amazed by this wonder. They asked what the cart was carrying and that perhaps it should be unloaded. He replied that he had nothing that would prevent the cart from moving, having only two religious statues.
Determined to set off again, with the cart carrying the two boxes, the same problem occurred. A Portuguese man, devoted to the Blessed Virgin, knew well the reason. One statue was to be placed in the chapel that it was originally intended for. He persuaded Rosendo to unload one box, but leave the other on the cart. Amazingly, the cart began to move with ease, letting the farm owner have the image he wanted, and leaving the other image where it wanted to remain.
This is the image of Our Lady of Lujan, which spent many years with Rosendo, in a very small chapel, and was the most venerated image in all the region. Rosendo had a servant named Manuel who was dedicated to the image and took care of the lamp that burned constantly before it.
As time passed, the owner of the chapel died and the place was deserted. With the many devotees who traveled for a miracle, there was not enough room. Lady Ana de Matos asked if the image could be moved to her estate and placed in the chapel there.
With the assistance and devotion of the chaplain Fr. Pedro Montalbo, and of the caretaker Manuel Caso de Mendoza, devotion was enkindled in the entire region, even the remote provinces, and a church had begun to be built, which remains even to this day.
