2020-01-21 Tue

Our Lady of Altagracia Day or Día de la Altagracia is celebrated on January 21 each year to honor Our Lady of Altagracia, also known as Our Lady of Grace or Our Lady of High Grace – the patron saint and protector of the Dominican Republic.

It is one of two national holidays dedicated to the Virgin Mary. Our Lady of Altagracia is a portrait of the Virgin Mary. One story of the painting is that in 16th-century Salvaleón de Higüey there was a merchant who always brought his daughter a gift from his travels. One day, the daughter asked her father if he could bring her a portrait of the Virgin Mary as she had a dream about one.

Her father, after a long struggle, found the painting and brought it to the girl. The daughter cherished her painting, but every morning, she would awake to find the picture had moved from her house and was always found outside her house, under a small orange tree. This continued until the girl told her parents, after which the place became sacred and a church was built upon on the spot to signify the grace of the Virgin Mary.

ing has been on display since 1571 and is an appropriate physical symbol for the deep devotion and respect offered to the Virgin Mary by the people of the Dominican Republic. The painting was moved to the Basilica of Our Lady of Altagracia after the cathedral was made a minor basilica by Pope Paul VI in December 1970.

This festival was originally held on 15th August (Assumption of Mary) but was moved to 21st January to celebrate a victory over the French in 1690. The stamp shown above was issued in the year 1971 with the denomination of 3 centavos.

Image Courtesy: https://colnect.com

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