Our Lady of Hope, IESE Virgin 21 cm – small

History of this image / Barcelona, September 2017

The sculpture you are holding in your hands was born in the Year of Mercy (2016-2017) at the initiative of IESE’s Womens’ Loby, with the hope of taking the Virgin to the Brazilian Amazon, on the banks of the Uatumá River. In addition to the more material needs – such as providing drinking water or basic health care – it was necessary to show the tenderness and maternal love in the figure of Mary, something essential for the education and development of the children of the riverside communities.

The image, made by sculptor Diana García Roy, was bequeathed to Brazil under the invocation of the Virgin of Hope, patroness of those lands, thanks to the collaboration of many people who shared this initiative. Diana knew how to capture the maternal sweetness in the face of the Virgin, an image of 2.20 meters high and 90 kilos that is installed in a small chapel designed by the Cordovan architect Miguel Fernandez de Molina Lovera and built by local workers.

St. John Paul I placed the Amazon under the protective mantle of the Virgin, invoking her as “Queen of the Amazon”: “May she protect and accompany you, may she encourage you and make you feel the great serenity and confidence that derive from the Word of Jesus: ‘I am with you always, even to the end of the age’ (Mt 28:20)”.

The wayside shrine of Our Lady of Hope is today a point of reference and pilgrimage both for the neighboring families and for the visitors of the Uatumá River, which means “Beautiful Woman”.

You have before you the image of a “Virgin traveler” who has traveled more than 12,000 km to bring Hope to those most in need. Welcome her. Find a place for her in your heart. Open the doors of your home and dedicate to her a place where you can look at her and ask her for what you most need.