By Thomas J. Craughwell - OSV Newsweekly, 5/22/2011 From Canada
to Chile, devotion to the Blessed Mother runs deep in the
Americas. You know that under her title the Immaculate
Conception Mary is the patroness of the United States, and
certainly you’ve heard the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe. But
there are many more Madonnas in the Americas. What follows,
then, is a selection of national patrons. It is interesting to
note that often devotion to Mary under a particular title began
among humble people and outcasts, then, from such lowly
beginnings, spread to all levels of society until Our Lady
became the patron of the nation. Our Lady of the Immaculate
Conception of Luján In 1630, a Brazilian potter received from a
customer in Argentina an order for a 2-foot-high statue of the
Blessed Virgin. When he finished the work, he packed it into a
wooden crate and sent it by oxcart to his client in the town of
Santiago del Estero, Argentina. But when the cart reached Luján,
the oxen stopped and refused to move. The te