Chinita Composition

On November 18, 1709, on the waves of the Maracaibo Lake frisky riding a small board smooth. It was early morning and a group of women doing his daily task of washing clothes. That planchette was taken by an old woman, because he needed to cover the jar of water and took it home. There, little by little began to stain the wood, the old lady cleaned it and noticed that appeared signs of a religious image and therefore placed in a special place in the house. It was not long before the miracle happens: the house started shaking and totally lit up "with the brilliance that the altarpiece in bundles spread meridians.

"The poor old woman, troubled, and fell on his knees before the Virgin of Chiquinquirá and began to "Miracle, miracle!". The neighbors came and saw the Virgin "colored mestizo and Indian face, which looked all homely face." Later, the church authorities thought of moving the table to the Cathedral miraculous, but the Virgin chose his own sanctuary, to acquire a weight impossible to be raised by the devotees went in procession. But to divert the course towards the hermitage of San Juan de Dios, built in 1686, everything was possible and since then is there, La Chinita, Marian fervor fueling of Zulia.On May 18, 1920 Pope Benedict XV honored with the title of Minor Basilica of St John of God, who called Basilica Chiquinquirá Zulia.

Earlier, on July 16, 1917 the Pope had ordered the canonical coronation of Our Lady of Chiquinquirá. These efforts were made, according to historian Adolfo Romero Luengo (Mother of God in Zulia, p. 47 ff) by Father Antonio Maria Soto Romero, of the Ports of Altagracia.However, the act of the coronation of the Virgin effectively made many years later, on November 18, 1942, with assistance from President Isaias Medina Angarita and his Cabinet.