August 10
Virgen de la Peña, Bogotà, Colombia
On August 10, 1685, Bernardino Rodríguez de León "saw a great and unusual radiance that was not the natural light of day" in the peaks east of Bogotá. On drawing near, he realized the light was coming from an image of an angel, the Virgin and Child, and St. Joseph, outlined in the living rock. News of the discovery soon spread through the capital, and after an investigation, the Archbishop authorized construction of a chapel on the mountain and public veneration of the images on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday of 1686. The thatched chapel collapsed in 1714, and a sturdier stone one took its place. Mysteriously, people began to see Our Lady's face change expression at times: sad, tearful, joyous. On May 8, 1716, the left wall of the chapel collapsed to its foundation, after only 150 days. It was decided to move the images from the mountain. In early June, stonemason Luis de Herrera began separating the images from the underlying rock. Legend relates that when he finished, a bird flew out. The images were cleaned, polished, and touched up to make the figures and clothing more distinct. They still weighed 750 pounds. In November, men carried them on their shoulders to the plain, where they were greeted with rejoicing and dancing. Another straw shelter protected the statues until completion of a new chapel in 1722. Now a national monument, Our Lady of the Crag is still an active church and an archdiocesan sanctuary.Sources:
 | "Santuario Nuestra Señora de la Peña," Arquidiocesis de Bogotá, www.arquibogota.org.co/?idcategoria=2922 |
| "Historia de la Parroquia - Parroquia La Peña," Arquidiocesis de Bogotá, www.arquibogota.org.co/?idcategoria=22269 (picture, detail) |
| Beatriz Caballero, "El Santuario de la Peña," Boletín Cultural y Bibliográfico, Número 11. Volumen XXIV - 1987, Banco de la República de Colombia, www.lablaa.org/blaavirtual/publicacionesbanrep/boletin/boleti3/bol11/santuario.htm (quote from Juan Agustín Matallana, Historia metódica y compendiosa del Santuario, 1815) |
Also commemorated this date:
| Mother of God, Rakavichy, Shchuchyn, Hrodna, Belarus. Feast day of miraculous icon in Holy Nativity of Our Lady Orthodox Church. |
| Mother of God, Mizhevichi, Slonim, Grodno, Belarus. Copy of Smolensk Hodegetria (below) left by Russian troops in the 1700s. |
| Notre Dame du Puy, Bourganeuf, Creuse, Limousin, France. Chapel consecrated, 1864. Pilgrimage August 15. |
| Notre-Dame de Grâces, Cotignac, Var, Provence, France. Apparition, 1519, celebrated annually. |
| Nostra Signora delle Rocche, Molare, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy. Painting crowned, 1823. Feste Easter Monday and September 8. |
| Nostra Signora della Pieve, Ponzone, Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy. Statue crowned, 1879. Main feast August 15. |
| Santa Maria delle Grazie, Procida, Napoli, Campania, Italy. Painting crowned, 1924. |
| Madonna della Stella, Aliano, Matera, Basilicata, Italy (Madonna of the Star). Festa, procession. |
| Ina ng Mabuting Pangyayari, Parañaque, National Capital Region, Philippines (Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso, Our Lady of the Good Event). Statue installed in St. Andrew's Church, 1625; annual fiesta, procession. |
| Supraśl Mother of God, Supraśl, Białystok, Podlaskie, Poland (July 28, old style) |
| Matka Boże Lewiczyńska, Lewiczyn, Belsk Duży, Grójec County, Masovia, Poland. Icon crowned, 1975. |
| Matka Pocieszenia i Wygnańców, Wójcice, Otmuchów, Nysa, Opole, Poland (Mother of Consolation and Exiles). Icon crowned, 1986. |
| Nossa Senhora do Sameiro, Espinho, Braga, Norte, Portugal. Sanctuary consecrated, 1877. |
| Mother of God of Greben, Moscow, Russia (July 28 Julian) |
| Mother of God of Belozersk, Belozersk, Vologda, Russia (July 28 Julian). Also June 8 / 21. |
| Hodegetria, Smolensk, Smolensk, Russia (July 28 Julian). Feast day of ancient icon burned in World War II. |
| Mother of God of Tenderness of Serafimo-Diveevsky Monastery, Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia (July 28 Julian) |
| Nuestra Señora de la Merced, Barcelona, Spain. King James of Aragon approved establishment of the Order of Our Lady of Mercy and the Redemption of Captives (Mercedarian Order), 1223. See September 24. |
| Visitación de la Virgen a Santa Isabel, San Martín del Castañar, Salamanca, Castile-Leon, Spain (Visitation of the Virgin to St. Elizabeth). Village's patronal fiesta. |
| Mare de Déu de Lluc, Escorca, Majorca, Balearic Islands, Spain. Statue crowned, 1884. Fiesta second Sunday in September. |
| Nankivska Mother of God, Nankovo, Khust, Transcarpathia, Ukraine |
| Gustyn Mother of God, Pryluky, Pryluky, Chernihiv, Ukraine (July 28 Julian) |
| Ladin Mother of God, Ladan, Pryluky, Chernihiv, Ukraine (July 28 Julian) |