The annual Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Suyapa is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 5 at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our Lady of Suyapa is the patroness of Honduras. 

Bishop Jose Antonio Canales Motiño, of Danli, Honduras, will serve as principal celebrant and homilist at the 4 p.m. Mass, which will be conducted in Spanish.    

“Our Honduran faithful identify the day as ‘Suyapa Day,’ a devotional celebration brought to New York by the faithful of Honduras; it is one of the most revered religious icons in their home country,” Wanda Vasquez, director of New York archdiocesan Hispanic Ministry, told The Good Newsroom last week.       

“Suyapa Day allows for the faithful to seek reconciliation through the intercession of Mary. The day is also respected as a Day of Service when many within the community will participate in charitable activities and events, believing that through their service, Mary can intercede for the community and provide a blessing from her son Jesus Christ,” Vasquez said.

“All advocations to Mary are important and each one we celebrate at St. Patrick’s Cathedral brings history, tradition, and culture to New York,” She said the city “is blessed to have such a faithful and vibrant community.” 

The Mass in Honor of Our Lady of Suyapa is organized each year by the archdiocesan Our Lady of Suyapa Committee and the Office of Hispanic Ministry. 

It is said that 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 laying on the ground, he felt a hard object, possibly a stone, under him and tossed it away.

After laying 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 Feb. 3. The statue is currently located in the Basilica de Suyapa in Suyapa, a suburb of the Honduran capital, Tegucigalpa. The sanctuary is spacious to allow for the multitude of pilgrims who visit it each year.