Sanctuary of Andacollo

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In these days that we are on vacation here in the north of Chile, we took the opportunity to take my mother-in-law to the Sanctuary of the Virgin of Andacollo. Such a small place, so charming, but such beautiful people have not discovered the richness of this place.

Here I will tell you a little about the history of the Andacollo Crossing.

Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Andacollo is the only clearly Chilean denomination among the many with which Chile honors the Virgin Mary. The legend dates back to the years of the conquest of Chile and the historical data that occurs during this period begins with the founding of the city of La Serena. The story tells that in 1549 this second city of Chile was burnt down by a rebellion of the natives of Copiapó (that same year the city was raised again by the conquistador Pedro de Valdívia

From this event the legend of the image of the Virgin of Andacollo was born. It is said that after the destruction of the city, the Spanish fled to the south seeking refuge. They go up the mountain and come across a small indigenous settlement of Molle origin, with Inca influence. Their astonishment was great when they saw the ravines full of washing gold, so they decided to hide the small image there and continued their course to the south. And this is how an Indian from the area named Collo found the image of the Virgin. According to legend, the Indian would have heard a heavenly voice that told him: "Go, Collo, invite your people to meet me and to meet the true God.

The Indian took the image and took it to his house to worship it, associating it with Pachamama (Mother Earth), since then the locals began to offer him their dances, very similar to those of the indigenous people of Peru and Bolivia.

The first image of the Virgin mentioned in the previous accounts, which was found by the indigenous, is not the one currently venerated in Andacollo. It is said that the true image mysteriously disappeared. Because the chapel was without an image, it lost its dedication to the Virgen del Rosario and was renamed the Parish of San Miguel.

To recover his title, the parish priest of that time; Bernardino Álvarez del Tobar, started a collection among the residents of Andacollo, gathering the sum of 24 pesos, and they commissioned an image of the Virgin from Lima, Peru. This image arrived at the beginning of 1676, and after obtaining ecclesiastical news for the Archangel Saint Michael to abandon his post in honor of the Virgen del Rosario, the image was blessed on the first Sunday of October 1676.

There is no record of the favors granted through the first image, all the miracles, some canonically approved, are thanks to the intercession of the Virgin Mary through the current image.

The small temple is the habitual place of residence of the sacred image of the Virgin of Andacollo. It began as a small chapel with mud walls and a coirón roof. Gradually, and due to the growing devotion of the people, it was transformed into a temple with an austere appearance but with Baroque decoration, especially in the silver-covered altarpiece where the miraculous image is venerated.

A vestibule provided with black marble stairs leads to the chapel of the Virgin, consisting of an octagonal oratory endowed with an elegant dome supported by Corinthian columns and adorned with the mysteries of the Holy Rosary. In the dressing room, the devotees have a rough view of the image, which can be rotated at will, and they can express their requests there.

In the adjacent Museum, pilgrims can admire an enormous number of gifts from the Virgin, among them the gifts of Great China, the Virgin's gala clothes, the room of vases and a valuable collection of jewelry from silver.

The bishop of that time, José Manuel Orrego, in 1869 decided to build a larger temple that would allow a more dignified and comfortable attention to the growing crowd of pilgrims. The Dominican fathers had managed to bring an architect from Rome to draw up the plans for one of their churches: the Dominican Recoleta; In the same way, a prestigious Italian architect was brought in and the construction work on the temple began on December 26, 1873. The work lasted twenty years, so that the inauguration of the temple was on December 26, 1893.

The Parker company was awarded the honor of carrying out this great work, but the workers hired directly by the company were in a minimum number, for the same reason, the inhabitants of that time were needed to complete this work. This is how the Andacollinos became participants in this work, taking as a habit on weekends to go to the vicinity of the work to collaborate mainly in the manufacture of adobes. The barefoot children jumped over the adobes, making them compact, acquiring a firmness that endures to this day, enduring inclement weather and telluric movements.

The Minor Basilica was designed by the Italian architect Eusebio Cheli, in a Byzantine Romanesque style. Its largest structure is made of Oregon pine wood brought from California, the adobes are covered on the outside by galvanized iron sheets and on the inside with reeds from Guayaquil. It has 36 columns, 5 gigantic doors, 5 naves. The foundations on which this monumental work rests are 6 meters of stones and cement. The measurements are: 30 meters wide and 70 long; the height is 45 meters in the dome, 40 meters in the middle part and 50 meters in the towers. The capacity it has is for 10,000 people

By decree of the Holy See, on December 26, 1901, the image was solemnly crowned of Nuestra Señora del Rosario de Andacollo, venerated for more than four centuries in the town from which it takes its name.

The devotion spread to make it famous in Chile and other countries, being the most important religious festival in Chile, summoning nearly five hundred thousand parishioners year after year. In recognition of this, the Apostolic See ordered in 1901 that the sacred image be crowned. Cardinal Mariano Rampolla had decreed on June 15, 1899 at the request of Pope Leo XIII that the Andacollina image be “crowned with a golden crown”, this being the first in all of Latin America. The following year, the Claretians assumed the service of the sanctuary and implemented compliance with the decree.

The royal jewels for "La Chinita" and financed largely by popular spending. She is the patron saint of all of northern Chile. The crown that he currently wears daily was brought from France and the gold crown that he wears in his celebrations is a donation from the Andacollinos themselves. The custom of dressing the image of the Virgin began in 1828. The baby Jesus that the Virgin carries in her arms was added in 1830.

The town of Andacollo, with its venerated image and visited by thousands of national and foreign visitors, is filled with colours, dances and music from the numerous brotherhoodsand dance groups, whose main function is to form the race of honor and escort the image during the solemn procession. They are made up of the Chinese dances, which have been celebrated since 1585, the turbans, since 1752, and the morenos, gypsies, red skins and Tamaya dancers, accompanied by drums, boxes, reed flutes, rattles, cymbals and tarkas.

The “Fiesta chica” is celebrated annually on the first Sunday of October, while the “Fiesta grande” takes place between December 23 and 27. Due to the number of holidays, the number of pilgrims rises, and the participating religious dances are about 80. The solemnity of the Virgin is on December 26, the date chosen to be in tune with the Sanctuary of Guadalupe (Mexico) because that day Juan Diego's cloak was taken to his first chapel in Tepeyac. What Maria de Guadalupe is to North America, María de Andacollo is to the south of the continent.

A place of much peace and faith!

Luciana.

Information about the Sanctuary: Wikipedia

Photographs; Luciana Medeiros