Eastern Oklahoma Catholic June 2012 : Page 5
yournews 1 2 3 4 1. Deacon Ernesto Cavillo prays near the image of Santo Niño de Atocha during an outdoor Mass at Ss. Peter and Paul. 2. Bishop Slattery kneels before the im-age of Santo Niño de Atocha. 3. An estimated crowd of 2,000 attend the special outdoor Mass. 4. Father Leonardo Medina, director of the Hispanic Apostolate, gives the homily. T The Holy Child of Atocha visits Tulsa he Diocese of Tulsa was blessed with a special visitor during the last full week of April. An image of Santo Niño de Atocha made stops in eight different parishes April 21-28. The weeklong celebration ended with Bishop Edward J. Slattery officiating at an outdoor Mass at Ss. Peter and Paul Parish in Tulsa attended by some 2,000 faithful. There were special prayers and bless-ings for young children and expectant mothers. day a child appeared to the prisoners carrying a basket of food and a gourd filled with water. It was soon noticed that the shoes worn by Jesus in the arms of Our Lady of Atocha were inexplicably soiled and worn. It was determined that it was He who paid nightly visits to the imprisoned Christians. As the conflict with the Moors spread to other parts of Spain, many travelers attempting to escape war-torn areas reported visits from a young boy dressed as a pilgrim who brought them food and helped lead them to safety. Devotion to Santo Niño de Atocha grew rapidly. As Spaniards began to move to the New World, they naturally brought along their devotion to El Santo Niño. In 1540, silver was discovered near the town of Fresnillo, Mexico. The mines there were operated primarily by Spanish immigrants who established a church and shrine to the young Jesus. El Santo Niño’s reputation as a traveling miracle worker grew in the Americas. In 1857, a shrine to the miracle worker was established in Chimayo, N.M., near Santa Fe. Today, there are several vastly popular shrines to Santo Niño throughout the world, most notably in Peru, the Phillipines and Plateros Fresnillo, Mexico. The image that visited the diocese is from the shrine in Palteros Fresnillo and is more than 200 years old. The image drew large crowds at each stop, including an estimated 600 in St. Joseph Parish in Muskogee, 450 in Bartlesville and some 1,000 faithful at the San Juan Diego Mission in Stilwell. Story and photography by Dave Crenshaw Devotion to El Santo Niño de Atocha originated in Spain and has a direct connection to Our Lady of Atocha in Madrid, a statue of Our Lady holding a young Jesus in her left arm. The image of mother and child is an ancient one and tradition holds that St. Luke the Evangelist was the sculptor of the first such image. In Atocha, faithful families would borrow the detachable image of the Divine Child when a woman was about to give birth. During the 13th century, battles between Moors and Christians were common. After an invasion of Madrid, the victorious Moors held many Christians prisoners and, according to tradition, al-lowed only children under the age of 12 to bring food and water to the captive Christians. The women of the village began to pray before the statue of Our Lady of Atocha asking for help, until one Boniface, bishop and martyr June 5 | St. Norbert, bishop June 6 | St. Ephrem, deacon and doctor of the Church June 9 | Most Holy Body and Blood of Christ June 10 | St. Barnabas, apostle June 11 5
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