The Pilgrimage to Our Lady of Buen Suceso of the Purification was organized by SSPX USA under the direction of Fr. Adam Purdy. We recommend this pilgrimage to the Knights of the Immaculata most highly.
Some Knights of the Immaculata also participated in the pilgrimage and helped to distribute over a hundred Miraculous Medals and leaflets to the Ecuadorian people, who received them with great joy and thankfulness. In future, when Knights of the Immaculata come to Quito, they should bring hundreds of Miraculous Medals with Spanish leaflets, to strengthen these people who are hungry for God and have many sufferings.
What first struck me about Quito, the capital city of Ecuador, was the strongly Catholic character. There are many magnificent churches and monasteries in the city centre. Catholic religious orders like the Franciscans, Augustinians, Mercedarians, Dominicans, Oblates, Carmelites, Jesuits and others have been represented in Quito since the 16th century.
About two hundred people mainly from USA and Canada and a few from Australia, Mexico, Trinidad and Switzerland, participated in the Novena to Our Lady of Buen Suceso of the Purification from the 24th of January until the 2nd of February 2019. We gathered every morning at 5.00am at the Church of the Immaculate Conception where the statue of Our Lady of Buen Suceso is kept, and went on procession with Our Lady, praying the Holy Rosary. Each day we took Our Lady of Buen Suceso to different religious communities who received Our Lady with joy. We prayed the Novena and they sang songs to Our Lady of Buen Suceso. The religious were very touched and thankful for our prayer and our presence. On Candlemass, the Day of the Purification, the Archbishop of Quito, Fausto Gabriel Trávez participated at the dawn procession, together with a huge number of Ecuadorians and the entire Franciscan community.
Holy Mass was at 8.30am in the Church of the Immaculate Conception, which is part of the monastery of the Conceptionist Franciscan sisters. Every morning there were outings to the different churches and the monasteries, with their museums showing a rich collection of Christian art from the 17th and 18th century. Not only were the representations of Our Lady with her different names – Virgen de la Merced, La Inmaculada, María Auxiliadora, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe and others – well worth seeing, but also the crucifixes with Our Lord in different expressions of his passion and death, and the traditional liturgy vestments and utensils. Every evening at 5.30pm we were taught songs in Spanish about Our Lady of Buen Suceso, which we sang at the Serenade on the first and last evening and on the processions. Fr. Adam Purdy gave us a conference on the meaning of the apparitions and messages of Our Lady of Buen Suceso of the Purification and on the life of the Abbess of the Conceptionist Monastery, Mariana de Jesús Torres, to whom Our Lady of Buen Suceso appeared from 1594 until her death in 1635. Our Lady warned about a crisis of world proportion that would afflict the Holy Catholic Church in the 20th century. She told her that the light of faith would be nearly extinguished, heresies would abound, and impurity and sensuality would inundate the world and the Church. Priests would neglect their sacred duty becoming fond of money and losing their spirit, and so placing themselves in great danger. Mother Mariana offered her life as a pleasing sacrifice for the Church of the 20th century.
Our Lady predicted to Mother Mariana in 1599 that there will be a truly Catholic president of Ecuador in the 19th century. Indeed, Gabriel García Moreno (1821-1875) promoted the social kingdom of Jesus Christ with great zeal and worked intensely for Catholic restoration against the liberal and Masonic forces. Hence, Ecuador was the first country in Latin America and in the world that was solemnly consecrated to the Sacred Heart of Jesus in 1874. A year later this heroic president was slaughtered by his enemies.
One of Quito’s landmarks is the statue of Our Lady of Quito or Our Lady of the Apocalypse on the top of Mount Panecillo. This 45m tall aluminium statue of Our Lady stands on a globe, with wings, holding a chain and stepping on a serpent. A unique exhibition at the Panecillo shows windows with depictions of Our Lady’s apparitions in Ecuador from the 16th to the18th century with her names: Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados, Nuestra Señora del Extasis, Nuestra Señora del Cisne, Nuestra Señora del Rocío, Nuestra Señora de Agua Santa, Nuestra Señora María Natividad del Guayco, Nuestra Señora de la Nube, La Dolorosa del Colegio and Nuestra Señora del Buen Suceso.
This is only a brief description of the pilgrimage. It gives hope in our confusing times and strengthens our will to assist and console Our Lady in her sorrows.
Yvonne Edwards
