The Virgin of Peace

In 1655, some mighty pirates living on Meanguera Island attacked a ship and stole a sealed wooden box whose contents. The pirates didn’t care about its destination since they were only looking for gold and silver. They forced the sailors to walk the plank and let them die around 50 miles from the shores of La Paz in El Salvador.

However, God didn’t forget what had happened and sent a powerful wind that almost destroy the pirate ship. From one moment to another, the mysterious box fell into the sea and the pirates couldn’t recover it.

In 1682, some merchants around the shores of La Paz discovered the mysterious box. They couldn’t open it and asked a man on the shores to lend them one of his donkeys. They walked next to the donkey for several days until they reached San Miguel on November 21st.

As soon as they had arrived in San Miguel, the donkey felt exhausted in the main square in front of the old parish church. Immediately, the box opened and after removing several wraps, they found the portrait of a woman with a child in her arms.

The men couldn’t believe what was in from of them. The local priest approached them and asked them what they were doing in front of the church. They showed him the portrait and immediately kneeled in front of it, saying to the men that she was the Virgin Mary.

The men also kneeled and asked for her forgiveness since they had not recognized her.

The news of the portrait spread like wildfire around the town. For several years, there had been several fights across the town, but all of them stopped after the Virgin their lands. After this miraculous event, the Virgin found on the beaches became the National Patron of San Miguel. Also, people started to call her the Virgin of Peace (figure 1).

Figure 1. The Virgin of Peace. ¹

Inspired by Leyendas de El Salvador’s version.

Credits:
¹ Vatican News

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