OUR LADY OF COROMOTO
On 8 of September 1652, in a mountainous site of Guanare the Virgin of Coromoto appeared to the Cospes tribe, who in time became the Patron Saint of Venezuela.
During the second visit of Pope John Paul II to Venezuela, the votive temple of Guanare was consecrated as the National Sanctuary of Our Lady of Coromoto, on the 7 of January 1996, and was blessed on the 10 of February 1996 by His Holiness.
PRAYER TO OUR LADY OF COROMOTO
Remember us, Oh most loving Virgin of Coromoto, of whom it has never been known to have abandoned anyone seeking your protection and imploring for your help. Filled with confidence in your merits we come to you to pray for your intervention. Oh! Powerful Patron Saint of Venezuela, Celestial Treasurer of the Jesus’ Heart, which Heart is an inexhaustible source of all graces and which could be opened to your like, to spill on men and in a special way on Venezuela, all the treasures of love and mercy, light and salvation which this Adorable Heart holds. Grant us, we humbly beg, that our country be saved from the great threat of Communism and that may peace prevail in our homes and that there be a brotherly harmony between all the Venezuelans.
No, we cannot receive from You, who are our Patron Saint, Mother and Queen, any disappointment at all.
And since Venezuela belongs to you and we are your loved children, humbly accept our pleas and save our loved homeland. Thus this be.
(FATHER PEDRO PABLO TENEIRO, GUANARE BISHOP).
GUANARE
It is a city located in the western center of Venezuela and it is the capital of the State of Portuguesa. It is situated at 183 mts of altitude at the foothill of the Andean plains, specifically dividing the waters of the rivers of Portuguesa and Guanare. As the center administrative state, this city has commercial and services functions. It is an important nucleus of religious attraction by the pilgrimages to the great basilica of Our Lady of Coromoto and to the nearby sanctuary of this Virgin, patron saint of Venezuela. In its cultural activities it emphasizes the radiation of the Experimental University of the Western Plains. It maintains activities of agro-industrial processors of corn, tobacco, rice, sesame, silos, storage plants, sugar and sawmills power stations. It was founded in 1591 with the name of the Holy Spirit of the Valley of Goanagoanare, place name which later derived to the current name of Guanare. The population of this city (according to 1996 estimates) is of 108,945 inhabitants.
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