On Sunday, October 10, at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Augustine, Florida, a canonical coronation was held to honor and bestow new, golden crowns on the image of Our Lady of La Leche and the child Jesus.
“It was incredible to be part of such a historical event up close and personally, as this kind of thing happens very rarely in the Church’s history,” Jonathan Goldman, a seminarian in the Diocese of St. Augustine and an altar server during the ceremony, said. “The seminary has made it very clear that a vocation to the priesthood will not work without devotion to Our Lady. It is incredibly important as spiritual fathers to find a complimentary presence in Mary’s spiritual maternity over God’s children.”
This ceremony was during a special Mass offered in English and Spanish with 600 invited guests and a livestream hosting between 1,000 and 1,200 people. Cardinal Carlos Osoro Sierra, Archbishop of Madrid, Spain, represented Pope Francis at the Mass and coronation ceremony by serving as the main celebrant of the Mass and placing the gold crowns on the image of Our Lady of La Leche and the infant Jesus.
“I thank God for all that it means to see the Church alive here. So many memories, the gospel came to these lands of Florida 450 years ago and it is here in St. Augustine that the first Eucharist was celebrated [on] the first coast,” Cardinal Sierra said in Spanish during his homily. “I come from Madrid, Spain, to experience with you in this celebratory context what it means for the Church to live always in a state of mission.”
The idea of a canonical coronation was suggested in a letter from Pope Francis giving the Diocese of St. Augustine approval of a feast day dedicated to Our Lady of La Leche on October 11 starting in 2012.
Our Lady of La Leche is the fourth canonical coronation of an image of the Blessed Mother in the United States. Others include Our Lady of Prompt Succor in New Orleans in 1895, Our Lady of Mount Carmel in New York City in 1904, and Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 2013.
In 1513, Juan Ponce de Leon landed in Florida and, about 50 years later, Pedro Menendez landed in what would become St. Augustine. These Catholic religious and lay people focused on bringing the Native Americans into the Catholic faith, particularly by promoting a devotion to Our Lady of La Leche. In 1577, Spanish missionaries brought a statue of Our Lady of La Leche from Spain and erected the first shrine to Mother Mary in America.
In order for an image to receive a canonical coronation there has to be demonstrations of miracles through this particular devotion, the title has to be well known, and the devotion has to have been around for a significant amount of time. Our Lady of La Leche met all of the requirements.
The statue itself includes a crown and a blue mantle with stars portraying Mary’s queenship of heaven. Further, she is wearing a white veil to showcase her perpetual virginity. She is also gazing on the nursing Child Jesus, contemplating the Son of God who she loves and gives everything to.
“I have started saying the Rosary every morning, with a novena and it has been life changing for me,” Berny Bakkar, an attendee of the ceremony and a teacher in the diocese, said. “I was always the person who only prayed to Jesus, until a friend of mine suggested the Rosary.”
Bishop Felipe J. Estévez, head of the Diocese of St. Augustine, concluded the ceremony and Mass with a special prayer in front of the Our Lady of La Leche statue.
“Mother Mary, we, the bishop and his flock, the Diocese of St. Augustine, come before you with tears of joy, tears of sorrow, and with all the people and concerns that flood our hearts,” the bishop said. “We ask the Holy Spirit through St. Joseph for the grace to enter and remain within your Immaculate Heart, for it was there that the Son of the Father became man and took on the redemption of our flesh and blood.”
Following the ceremony and Mass, the image of Our Lady was taken to the National Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche at Mission Nombre de Dios where it was placed in the Historic Chapel for prayer and devotion.
Photo Courtesy of Gregory Montana
Max Montana is a senior studying philosophy and theology. When not writing for The Torch, he enjoys reading more about the Catholic faith and philosophy, serving the unborn and mothers in need, and hanging out with friends. Max is honored to hail from the state with many gators and the bishop of the moon: Florida.
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