The Candelaria City Council, within the framework of the August celebrations in honor of the Virgin of Candelaria, General Patron of the Canary Archipelago, yesterday organized the First International Meeting of the Virgin of Candelaria in the World.
In the Plenary Hall of the City Council, the Mayor of Candelaria, Mari Brito; Fray José Ramón Enjamio López, Prior of the Dominican Fathers Convent and Rector of the Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria and the Councilor for Institutional Relations, Francisco Pinto, welcomed the representatives of the consulates of Ecuador, Uruguay, Venezuela, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Peru, Brazil, Argentina and Honduras.
“With this meeting we intend to gather and collect the living testimony of what the Patroness of the Canary Islands means in Latin America, we know that there has been a deep faith and respect for La Morenita for centuries and this unites us despite the distance. It is an honor to have representatives from nine different countries to learn and make visible that important connection that our municipality has with so many others around the world ”, said the mayor.
For his part, Fray José Ramón Enjamio made a reflection on the presence of the Canaries in Latin American countries that took the invocation of the Virgin of Candelaria to many corners, making a historical journey through Christianization.
The members of the honorable Consular Corps accredited in Santa Cruz de Tenerife who attended were María Elizabeth Seijo Candamio, representing Venezuela; Katia Julia Castillo Marte, for the Dominican Republic; Celeste Lorente, as deputy consul of Argentina; Guillermo de la Torre Fernández de Vega, representing Ecuador; Celia Ondoño Sánchez, for Uruguay; on the part of Peru, Fernando Ruiz Lecuona; from Honduras, Marcos Pérez-Aldana Romero; Juan Amaro González de Mesa Ponte, representing Brazil, and Alejandro Tosco Castro, for Guatemala, participated in a round table where they shared the tradition linked to the Virgin of Candelaria in their respective countries.
The First International Meeting of the Virgin of Candelaria in the World ended with the delivery of a gift to the consuls and with the willingness of the Consistory and the consuls to initiate collaborations and twinning to connect the countries through their religious bond through culture and the art.
