Basílica Nuestra Señora de Luján

The Basílica is a Catholic temple dedicated to the patron saint of Argentina, Nuestra Señora de Luján (Our Lady of Lujan). It is situated about 37 miles from the city of Buenos Aires. The building is enormous, serving as a gathering place for people of the Catholic faith as well as tourists. It receives more that 8 million visitors annually (1).

The Story of the Virgin and Manuel, her caretaker

The story goes that around 1630 a wealthy Portuguese immigrant who had settled in the area of Santiago del Estero, Argentina, asked a friend of his in Brazil to send him a statue of the virgin Mary. His intention being to set the figure in his newly build chapel in his estancia. His friend complied by sending two statues so he could choose the one he preferred.

As the caravan approached the Luján river, the carriages became stuck. Try as they might, the workers were not able to move them. They decided to separate the statues, putting one in one carriage and the other in the other. The first carriage was able to move normally again. However, the second carriage still would not budge, and they realized that the image did not want to continue the voyage. Faced with this miraculous turn of events, the men decided to leave the image with the owner of the land and continue the trip with the other statue.

The owner of the land agreed to keep the virgin and decided to build a little chapel to house it. As word got out about this, people began to travel to the chapel to see and pray to the virgin. Throughout this time a man called Manuel, who had been brought from Africa as a slave, began to care for the image. He preserved the melted wax from the candles lit for the virgin and used this to perform miracle cures on the faithful who came to see the virgin.

Eventually, another owner took control of the estate and she decided to move the virgin to a new location. The virgin was moved, but every night she would disappear and reappear miles away in her original location where Manuel still resided. People accused Manuel of stealing the virgin but it was later found that he could not have done it and that the virgin was miraculously moving on her own. From then on, they decided to keep them together and they did not part until Manuel died in 1686.(2)

Sources:
  1. Nuestra Señora de Luján. Catholic.net https://es.catholic.net/op/articulos/1467/cat/644/nuestra-senora-de-lujan.html#modal
  2. Gobierno de Argentina. Conocé la historia del Negro Manuel, el cuidador de la Virgen de Luján. https://www.argentina.gob.ar/noticias/conoce-la-historia-del-negro-manuel-el-cuidador-de-la-virgen-de-lujan