The first two Spanish Marian Masses in the new year at St. Patrick’s Cathedral will be celebrated in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia and Our Lady of Suyapa. 

Nuestra Señora de la Altagracia (Our Lady of High Grace) is a devotional tradition in the Dominican Republic; the Mass is set for 2 p.m. on Sunday, January 12. Archdiocese of New York Auxiliary Bishop Joseph A. Espaillat will be the principal celebrant.

Our Lady of Suyapa is the patroness of Honduras; the Mass is scheduled for 4 p.m. on Sunday, February 9. The assigned celebrant is Bishop Teodoro Gomez Rivera of the Diocese of Choluteca, Honduras. 

“This is very important to us, to have this Mass every year in honor of Our Lady of Altagracia in New York City, and especially because it’s at St. Patrick’s Cathedral – to venerate our Mother,” Daisy Cruz, president of the archdiocesan Our Lady of Altagracia Committee, told The Good Newsroom in a December 18 phone interview. She said the committee is very grateful to the archdiocese for the annual Mass. 

Blanca Rosa Gomez, president of the archdiocesan Our Lady of Suyapa Committee, said, “It is like having a piece of our country here in New York, celebrating Our Lady of Suyapa at the cathedral each year…I give thanks to God; it’s important for us in the Honduran community – and at the end of Mass, we thank the Archdiocese of New York.”

Our Lady of Altagracia

Our Lady of Altagracia is a portrait of the Virgin Mary in a Nativity scene painted circa 1500. It is kept in the Basilica-Cathedral of Our Lady of Altagracia in Higüey, Dominican Republic. Her feast day is January 21.       

The original portrait was crowned twice: first on August 15, 1922, during the pontificate of Pius XI, and then by Pope John Paul II (now saint), who personally crowned the portrait with a golden silver tiara during his visit to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic on January 25, 1979. 

Story of Our Lady of Suyapa 

The story of Our Lady of Suyapa started in February 1747, when a local peasant, Alejandro Colindres, was on his way back to the village of Suyapa after a day of gathering corn. When evening fell, Alejandro decided to stay overnight near a ravine about halfway to Suyapa. While lying on the ground, he felt a hard object, possibly a stone, under him and tossed it away.

After lying down again, he discovered that the object had returned. He placed it in his bag and realized in the morning that the object was a small carved image of Our Lady, with her hands joined in prayer.    

The image of Our Lady of Suyapa is carved in cedar wood, possibly done as a devotional item by an unknown amateur artist. The first shrine of Our Lady of Suyapa was blessed in 1780, and the first notable, attested miracle occurred in 1796.    

Our Lady of Suyapa was declared patroness of Honduras in 1925 by Pope Pius XI; her feast day is February 3. The statue is in the Basilica de Suyapa in Suyapa, a suburb of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa.