A rich Spanish
colonist was in the habit of going to
the city of Santo Domingo for his
shopping. One time, his pious daughter
Nina, aged 14, asked him to bring her
back a portrait of Our Lady of
Altagracia (High Grace), the Blessed
Virgin Mary who has received many graces,
is still "full of grace" and was
prepared for the highest of all graces,
that of becoming the Mother of God.
But the father was forced to return from
San Domingo empty handed because no one
had ever heard of Our Lady of Altagracia.
On his
way home, he stopped over at an inn in Higuey,
and described his problem to an old friend he
met there. A third person joined the
conversation at that point, and pulled a rolled
up canvas out of his bag representing Our Lady
of High Grace, a portrait of the Virgin Mary in
a Nativity scene praying before the Child Jesus,
with St Joseph in the background. Full of joy,
the father asked to buy it, but the stranger
would only give it to him free of charge. By
dawn the next morning, the mysterious person was
gone, not to be seen again. Nina came to meet
her father and discovered the wonderful painting
on January 21st.
A shrine was built, at the place where the
father and daughter met in Higuey. It is the
largest Marian shrine in the Dominican Republic,
and the Feast of the shrine, on January 21, is a
national holiday in Mary's honor.
Adapted from the book Nuestra Señora de la
Altagracia, by Bishop Ramón de la Rosa, Bishop
of Altagracia, Dominican Republic, 1977
