marian feasts     april

April 17

Nuestra Seņora del Patrocinio, Buenos Aires, Argentina

Between the world wars, some 60,000 Ukrainians migrated to Argentina, many settling in Buenos Aires. About half of them belonged to the Byzantine-rite Catholic Church. In 1968, Paul Paul VI made Buenos Aires an eparchy, or diocese, of the Ukrainian Catholic Church. The same year, Josyp Cardinal Slipyj blessed the new cathedral during a pastoral visit. It is named for Our Lady of Patronage, an ancient title of Mary going back to Byzantine times, also known throughout the eastern churches as the Mother of God of Protection (Pokrov in Russian). On April 17, 1987, in celebration of 1000 years of Ukrainian Christianity, Pope John Paul II crowned the Cathedral's mosaic icon of Our Lady of Patronage (right). The eparchy celebrates its patronal fiesta in honor of Nuestra Seņora del Patrocinio on the first Sunday in October, with solemn mass in the cathedral followed by a communal meal. (Information primarily from www.ucrania.com; picture from "Recordamos el martirio de la Iglesia en Ucrania," Cruzada Reparadora del Santo Rosario, www.cruzadadelrosario.org.ar.)

Also commemorated this date:

Madonna della Basella, Urgnano, Bergamo, Lombardia, Italy. Apparition, 1356. Solemn mass and procession on years ending in 6. Festa Easter Mon.
Beata Vergine dei Miracoli, Corbetta, Milano, Lombardia, Italy
Maria Santissima di Gerusalemme, Bellona, Caserta, Campania, Italy (St Mary of Jerusalem). Image crowned, 1906.
Maria Santissima delle Grazie, Torre di Ruggiero, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy
 

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly