The Miracle of Our Lady of Good Success in 1941 News Reports & Testimonies of Witnesses by Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D.,

Our Lady of Good Success

The Miracle of ‘41 – Part II

News Reports & Testimonies of Witnesses

Marian Therese Horvat, Ph.D.

In the last article, we saw that Our Lady of Good Success started to make herself better known in the middle of the 20th century, as she had promised she would, when she worked a miracle witnessed by thousands of Ecuadorians in the Conceptionist Church in Quito.

Above, Peruvian troopers invade Ecuador; below, its superior air force bombs the borderland

bombing war 41 perus ecuador

Ecuador was engaged in a border war with Peru, the aggressor with a better equipped army. As losses escalated and no truce seemed in sight, Card. Carlos María de la Torre ordered that a Triduum of Masses and prayers should be said before statues of Our Lady in all the churches in Quito.

On Sunday, July 27, 1941, the last day of the Triduum, the miraculous statue of Our Lady of Good Success raised and lowered her eyes numerous times. Believers and nonbelievers alike flocked to the Church of the Immaculate Conception to witness this miracle that signaled the Queen of Heaven's intercession in that bitter war.

The miracle continued throughout the day and into the early hours of the next morning. Then, the statue returned to the upper choir, where she sits over the Abbess chair, governing her predilect Convent until the end of the world, another promise she made to Mother Mariana de Jesus Torres in the 16th century.

The Ecuadorian people soon felt the effect of her intercession: By Monday afternoon, the daily newspapers were announcing that a ceasefire had been called. A truce was signed on July 29, and the Peruvian forces withdrew from Ecuador's soil.

Testimonies of witnesses

The facts of this stunning miracle were published in numerous papers throughout Ecuador. These news reports were collected by Fr. Benjamin Rafael Ayora y Cueva, a Doctor of Theology, in a booklet titled Our Lady of Good Success of Quito and the International Conflict with Peru in 1941. In his work, we find moving testimonies of witnesses of the miracle of 1941: (1)

Thousands witnessed the miracle of Our Lady moving her eyes

Señor Juan Bautista Jaramillo gave this account: "I was hearing Mass at 10 a.m. in the Conceptionist Church, when I noticed that people were gathering in crowds around the statue of the Virgin of Good Success. At first, I paid no importance to this, but, then, I saw that some were weeping and others fainting, and I inquired about the cause.

"One lady, pointing toward the statue, said between sobs and tears, 'Don't you see the great miracle the Virgin is working?' Then, I saw the Virgin open her eyes, turn them in the direction of the altar and, then, return them to their former position. It was something supernatural and I will never in my whole life forget it."

Another lady asserted that she, together with her husband, saw from the distance of about six feet the miracle. She explained that her husband was a retired military officer and a Freemason and that when he saw the statue's eyes move, he almost fainted because it proved something he had never believed. They were blessed, she affirmed, to be actual witnesses of this great event, which had contributed to the conversion of her husband.

"Upon returning to our home," she said, "he swore he would do all he could to convert his companions at the Lodge to the Catholic Religion. I asked him to pray with me, and he knelt and prayed with me."

Another witness, Señor Rafael Pérez, gave this testimony: "My whole life I have been an unbeliever. I never believed in the miracles of the Saints and always thought they were the inventions of priests to exploit the religious sentiment of the foolish believing people. But, what I saw on Sunday night at 8:30 p.m. changed me.

As Our Lady foretold, Masonry took charge in Ecuador, propelling revolutions against Spain & the Church

"'I was going down Chile Street to the corner of Independence Plaza and saw a huge crowd, which made me think that there was some new patriotic manifestation against the cowardly aggression of the Peruvians.

"'I arrived at the corner and saw that the crowd was milling around, trying to enter the Church of the Conception. A lady explained to me that inside the church the Statue of the Virgin of Good Success was working a miracle. In my eagerness to confirm the fact, I managed to get in the church, opening a way with great difficulty and situated myself as close as I could to the statue. There, I experienced a sensational surprise.

"'I observed the Virgin turn her eyes to Heaven and, then, lower them several times. It seemed to me it could just be an optical illusion so, rubbing my eyes, I fixed them again on those of the Virgin and the same thing took place again. After calmly observing the statue for one hour, I was convinced of the veracity of this great event and I left, musing that the national and international misfortunes of the time could well have caused the Virgin and God to have mercy on the Ecuadorian people, who at that moment were suffering one of the greatest misfortunes of their history."

Another reliable witness, Señora Isabel de Ramírez, affirmed that she also saw the miracle of Blessed Virgin of Good Success. On the night of Sunday, July 27, after hearing the news, she went to the Conceptionist Church with her sister, two of her sister's children and a servant. They entered the church and, after situating themselves very close to the sacred Statue, she experienced a strange sensation.

Our Lady over the main altar in the Conceptionist Church

She stated: "A type of mist covered the statue, which gradually faded away and, then, the Blessed Virgin could be seen surrounded by a splendor that one could only call supernatural. Her face was extremely beautiful and bathed in a light never seen before, with her eyes open very wide and her gaze directed toward Heaven in an attitude of supplication. This was something unusual since the Blessed Virgin always has her eyelids half-closed and turned toward the people below."

Señora Isabel continued: "After some moments of devout observation, I noted with great astonishment that the pupils of her eyes as well as her eyelids returned to their natural position. This marvel repeated itself several times in intervals of some few minutes. I witnessed it. The same miracle was seen by all my family members who were present."

The report concludes: "This grand miracle was confirmed by many honorable matrons of our society, who also viewed it with great admiration and emotion. These ladies include Señoras Elvira Chiriboga de Salvador, Lola Lasso de Uríbe, María Lasso de Eastman Cox, Victoria Pérez de Quiñones, María Luisa Muñoz de Mancheno, Señorita Gangotena Jijón and many others.

"Other witnesses include Canons Ayora, Arcos and Andrade as well as a group of guards and military men." (2)

General acceptance of the miracle

A journal in Ibarra asked Fr. J. E. Vásquez, a Jesuit priest who lived in Quito, to confirm the reports of the miracle. Although he did not view the prodigy himself, the priest told the reporter that it was certainly worthy of belief, given the many credible witnesses of the miracle of Our Lady of Good Success. The interview follows: (3)

On April 20, 1906, the image of Our Lady of Sorrows worked a miracle in Quito

Reporter: Living so near the Conceptionist Convent, Your Reverence can certainly testify to the truth of the prodigious manifestation of Our Lady of Good Success at the end of the last July. We would like to know here [in Ibarra] how the priests and other competent persons in the Capital interpreted this celestial phenomenon since not everyone understands and admits it in the same way.

Fr. Vásquez: "I did not learn all the facts about it until the following day. Here in the house we heard news of what was taking place in the Conceptionist Church, but none of us could get into the Church when the doors opened that evening because the crowds were too large. The final word on this, as on any miracle or supernatural thing, falls strictly to the Ecclesiastical Authority and to us, according to the official ruling.

"But, in the meantime, we can certainly accept the testimony of so many persons of sound mind, good judgment and reliable faith who reported what they saw and persevere in their statements, notwithstanding some few differences in details, as has happened in so many other apparitions, since that of Our Lord Jesus Christ to St. Paul to the one of the Blessed Virgin in Lourdes and, even more recently, the miracle of our Sorrowful Mother at the Jesuit College.

"Similar manifestations prove that Mary, the August Mother of God, to whose Son's Sacred Heart our Republic is consecrated, has not abandoned us and that, thanks to her most powerful patronage, we should expect good success in our efforts and enterprises, in all that does not depart from the holy Law of God and the teachings of the Church."

In the next and final article we will look at the meaning of the miracle as interpreted in 1941, as well as its significance for our times.

Continued

1. "Prodigioso milagro em Quito - Declaraciones de testigos presenciales del milagroso suceso acontecido en la Igresia de la Concepción de Quito, el domingo 27 de Julio de 1941," La Vox Catolica, Loja, October 12, 1941, in Fr. Benjamin Rafael Ayora y Cueva, Nuestra Señora de 'El Buen Suceso' y el Conflicto Internacional con el Peru en 1941 [Our Lady of Good Success of Quito and the International Conflict with Peru in 1941] and was published with ecclesiastical approval (Quito, Editorial Ecuatoriana, 1946) n. XII, pp. 31-33.
2. Ibid.
3. "Consultas y centellas," La Corona de Maria, n. 505, February of 1943, in ibid., No. XIII, pp. 33-34