Virgin Mary Statue, Intact Among Ecuador’s Quake Ruins, Becomes a Beacon of Hope
Nicholas Casey
An outdoor Mass in Montecristi, Ecuador, on Wednesday. The steeple of the town’s basilica collapsed in the recent earthquake and church leaders decided that it would be too dangerous to hold services inside.
MONTECRISTI,
Ecuador — The earth shook and the steeple fell, taking most of the bell
tower with it. A white facade gave way, leaving the pews open to the
street.
But
amid the wreckage at the basilica, one object remained untouched: Our
Mother of Monserrate, the statue of the Virgin Mary for which the church
was named.
Dressed
in gold robes and wearing a tiny crown, she is only about three feet
tall. But the statue, which landed on these shores from Spain in the
16th century, has long played an outsize role in the history of
Montecristi.
She survived bombardment by pirates
and became a rallying point for Catholics when a secular government
expelled priests generations later. Every November, hundreds of
thousands of pilgrims trek from across Ecuador for nine days of festivities in her honor.
Now, after a 7.8-magnitude earthquake
upended the nation last weekend, the survival of Our Mother of
Monserrate has become a symbol of the persistence of this hillside town.
“She
is the mother who has taken care of us through this earthquake,” said
the Rev. Ángel Toaquiza, the priest who looks after the broken church.
“And I think a sign of this is that she suffered no damage that day.”
That she stands at all, he said, was no less than a miracle.
Eight people from Montecristi were among the more than 570 who have died throughout Ecuador
since the earthquake struck. Gabriela Rocío Mero, 36, a teacher from
this town, had gone with her daughter, 8, and her niece, 9, on Saturday
evening to buy school supplies in the port town of Manta when a building
collapsed and killed all three.
The
body of the mother was found on Monday. On Tuesday night, after the
remains of the two children were discovered and buried, neighbors from
an alley beside the church gathered for a nightlong vigil.
“She was very religious, very sincere,” said Adriana Palma, a friend since childhood.
The
vigil was being held under the rubble of the bell tower. With the
church closed, the only place for the memorial was outside, Ms. Palma
said.
That night, the damage of the church seemed to weigh on people at the vigil almost as much as the deaths in Montecristi.
The
cross at the top of the bell tower used to be the first thing people
would see when they approached the town from the road, said Ms. Palma’s
mother. Even sailors could spot the white church against the mountains
when they came from sea.
“It is the pride of this town,” said Fabricio Quijije, a neighbor.
Times like these were precisely when Montecristi would turn to Our Mother of Monserrate for solace and guidance.
According
to local legend, the statue was sent to South America by King Charles V
of Spain, as part of a pair with a statue called the Virgin of Mercy.
The king intended the second statute to remain in Ecuador, while
Monserrate was supposed to make its way to the viceroy in Lima.
But
the statue had other plans. When the boat set sail for Peru, it was
mysteriously unable leave the port, according to the tale. The captain
took it as a sign that Our Mother of Monserrate should stay in Ecuador.
Since then, residents say, the statue has intervened repeatedly for them over the generations. Nearly everyone has a story.
Father
Toaquiza remembered a terminal cancer patient from Guayaquil who was
cured after visiting the church. Luzmila Morales, a catechism teacher,
said that just this month, even before the quake struck, she and other
parishioners had escaped when a hillside collapsed, leaving her bus
under an avalanche.
“We began to pray,” she said. “She covered us with her shroud.”
The
statue’s survival of Saturday’s earthquake has especially captured the
imaginations of those of Montecristi, a sign of hope in a week with
little good news.
Dalinda
Bravo, a 28-year-old from nearby Portoviejo in training to become a
nun, recalled sitting in the church on Saturday evening, as she had
countless times before, praying and singing songs to the Virgin Mary.
Suddenly a roar echoed through the church. Cracks began to tear across the walls. A statue of St. Peter fell and broke in two.
“It felt like we were in a blender,” she said.
Father Toaquiza was having coffee across the street, preparing for 7:30 Mass, when the tremors began.
“Thank God we hadn’t started Mass when the bell tower fell,” he said. “That was the miracle.”
Four days later, he gathered with a group of about 200 to celebrate the evening Mass, which has been moved outdoors.
The sun set after a hot afternoon. Behind him, sparrows flew in and out of a crack in the basilica walls.
“I have been asked by people how we have been affected by this earthquake,” he began. “Do we still believe in Our Mother?”
“Yes,” said the crowd.
But
the question of what would become of the church worried those who
attended. Could it be repaired? Or would money need to be found to tear
it down and build anew?
“Please let someone rebuild our temple. Let us build it with even more love,” said a woman who took the microphone.
Others, like Silvia Quijije, whose sister Gabriela died with the two children Saturday, saw hope even in the broken church.
“We believe the Virgin saved us,” she said. “She sacrificed her house to save our lives, like how Jesus died for our sins.”
She pointed to the collapsed bell tower near her home and said: “The tower fell into the church. It didn’t fall into our house.”
