World’s largest Marian statue unveiled in Bolivia

Catholic News Agency ^ | February - 4 - 2013

[Alex Murphy]

La Paz, Bolivia, Feb 4, 2013 / 12:09 pm (CNA).- The largest statue of the Virgin Mary in the world, dedicated to Our Lady of Socavon, was inaugurated at a Feb. 1 ceremony in the city of Oruro, Bolivia.

Rolando Rocha, the lead sculptor for the project, told reporters that more than simply “a work of engineering and art,” the monument “is an act of faith that strengthens our traditions.”

Towering at 149 feet, the statue is located on a 12,000-foot mountain south of La Paz, the country’s second largest city. It stands 22 feet taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue atop Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The statue’s unveiling ceremony was attended by both Bolivian president Evo Morales and Oruro mayor Rossio Pimentel.

Our Lady of Socavon is the patroness of miners. The original statue is kept at the Diocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Socavon in the city of Oruro.

The presentation of the $1.2 million statue also marked the beginning of Carnaval in Orugo. The city’s festival is the only Carnaval celebration that includes a dance in honor of the Virgin Mary.

As residents of Oruro prepared for the annual candlelight procession to the Shrine of Socavon, Bishop Cristobal Bialasik issued a letter inviting those along the procession route to decorate their homes with sacred images and to listen to the diocesan broadcast of the event.

The closing procession, which took place on the evening of Feb. 3, featured nearly 50 dancers making their way to the shrine, where they asked the Virgin Mary for her intercession.

[Alex Murphy]

Towering at 149 feet, the statue is located on a 12,000-foot mountain south of La Paz, the country’s second largest city. It stands 22 feet taller than the Christ the Redeemer statue atop Rio de Janeiro, Brazil....The presentation of the $1.2 million statue also marked the beginning of Carnaval in Orugo. The city’s festival is the only Carnaval celebration that includes a dance in honor of the Virgin Mary....The closing procession, which took place on the evening of Feb. 3, featured nearly 50 dancers making their way to the shrine, where they asked the Virgin Mary for her intercession.

[BipolarBob]

Just the way Jesus said to do it. Everything in His life shows that is how He wanted it. Big statues of people. People worshiping people.

/sarc

[jobim]

There's opinion, and there's fact. Fact here is that Catholics
do not worship Mary, but yes, they do worship the Child Jesus
she holds. Are you impressed with Mount Rushmore? The Lincoln
Memorial? The statue that adorns the rapids in Concord made famous
by Emerson's poem that goes: "By the rude bridge that arched the
flood"? How about the bust of Churchill that the ghettoprez sent
back to 10 Downing Street?

[The KG9 Kid]

There's dozens of Buddhas all over Asia which dwarf that statue.

Nice try though.

[D-fendr]

Shh.. you’re not supposed to reveal that we worship Mt. Rushmore..

[RoosterRedux]

Fact here is that Catholics do not worship Mary, but yes, they do worship the Child Jesus she holds.Not necessarily true.

My family's dearest friend is a devout Catholic and her devotion to the Virgin is front and center of her faith.

If I say, as I did recently, that humans would be astounded at the overwhelming love that God has for us, she immediately inserts...and that of the Holy Mother.

Many Catholics may make the proper distinction about Mary...but many accept the syncretistic insertion of goddess worship (be that Diana, Semiramis, Artemis, Astarte...) into the Catholic faith.

Tell me the Rosary isn't about Mary front and center?

Flame if you must, but why can't we have an honest discussion of this detail.

[BipolarBob]

"The city’s festival is the only Carnaval celebration that includes a dance in honor of the Virgin Mary."

I just don't see Jesus and the disciples doing the twist or celebrating in the manner these participants do. Too much Mary and too little God.

[BipolarBob]

why can't we have an honest discussion of this detail.

It might lead to someone suggesting that Mary had other children (Jesus had half-brothers and possibly half-sisters), was impure and needed the Sacrifice on the cross just like the rest of us and should receive no worship, adoration or special attention from the rest of us. Just like I don't pray to or adore Lazarus or Nicodemus or any of the other characters in Jesus' life. So NO to any honest discussion or they may get sad.

[narses]

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[narses]

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[RoosterRedux]

I would like to respond to your post, particularly as it pertains to the beloved Mary's sinlessness, but it would cloud the issue.

But the question does arise...if beloved Mary (and she is by everyone who is Christian) is spotless...why do we need Jesus?

[narses]

It might lead to someone suggesting that Mary had other children (Jesus had half-brothers and possibly half-sisters)...

Such famous children of such a famous mother have names, right? Tell us there names, can you? And their descendants, they must all be very proud of their lineage, you must know the names of some of the descendants of these so famous children, right?

[RoosterRedux]

James and Jude...brothers of Jesus. There are others...

[mgist]

May she magnify the lord Jesus. Thank you God.

[RoosterRedux]

If they were just cousins...then why is John the Baptist so clearly defined as a cousin? And if they were close...why were not John the beloved and later Paul...not called brothers?

Your faith is rigid...is it alive or just a formula?

I say this out of love.

[narses]

Really, brothers? Or cousins? What about those “others”, where do you get this stuff?

[RoosterRedux]

How can a human magnify the creator of all humans...how can a pot magnify the potter?

[narses]

“I say this out of love.”

Right. Or ignorance. Or maybe even both.

So how many of the children are documented, and what happened to them and their line?

[narses]

My soul magnifies the Lord,
And my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.
For He has regarded the low estate of His handmaiden,
For behold, henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
For He who is mighty has done great things for me, and holy is His name. And His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation.
He has shown strength with His arm:
He has scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
He has put down the mighty from their thrones,
and exalted those of low degree.
He has filled the hungry with good things;
and the rich He has sent empty away.
He has helped His servant Israel, in remembrance of His mercy;
As He spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and to His posterity forever.

Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit.
As it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be, world without end. Amen

Magníficat ánima mea Dóminum,
et exsultávit spíritus meus
in Deo salvatóre meo,
quia respéxit humilitátem
ancíllæ suæ.

Ecce enim ex hoc beátam
me dicent omnes generatiónes,
quia fecit mihi magna,
qui potens est,
et sanctum nomen eius,
et misericórdia eius in progénies
et progénies timéntibus eum.
Fecit poténtiam in bráchio suo,
dispérsit supérbos mente cordis sui;
depósuit poténtes de sede
et exaltávit húmiles.
Esuriéntes implévit bonis
et dívites dimísit inánes.
Suscépit Ísrael púerum suum,
recordátus misericórdiæ,
sicut locútus est ad patres nostros,
Ábraham et sémini eius in sæcula.

Glória Patri et Fílio
et Spirítui Sancto.
Sicut erat in princípio,
et nunc et semper,
et in sæcula sæculórum.

Amen.

She became the Mother of God, in which work so many and such great good things are bestowed on her as pass man’s understanding. For on this there follows all honor, all blessedness, and her unique place in the whole of mankind, among which she has no equal, namely, that she had a child by the Father in heaven, and such a Child . . . Hence men have crowded all her glory into a single word, calling her the Mother of God . . . None can say of her nor announce to her greater things, even though he had as many tongues as the earth possesses flowers and blades of grass: the sky, stars; and the sea, grains of sand. It needs to be pondered in the heart what it means to be the Mother of God.

(Commentary on the Magnificat, 1521; in Luther’s Works, Pelikan et al, vol. 21, 326)

[Delta 21]

I’m suprised they dont have her inside the worlds largest discarded ceramic bathtub.