Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Seasons of Grace

Home
Catholic
Diocese of St. Augustine Honors the Virgin Mary, Breastfeeding Mother

Diocese of St. Augustine Honors the Virgin Mary, Breastfeeding Mother

Last updated on: January 16, 2015 at 5:22 am by Kathy Schiffer

Diocese of St. Augustine Honors the Virgin Mary, Breastfeeding Mother 2015-01-16T05:22:18-05:00 Kathy Schiffer

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

On Saturday, October 11, the Diocese of St. Augustine will honor Mary in her role as a new mother nursing her infant.

Bishop Felipe J. Estévez, head of the northeastern Florida diocese which is the oldest diocese in the United States, has declared the Feast of Our Lady of La Leche to be celebrated throughout the diocese.

He also instituted a Jubilee Year in commemoration of the Blessed Mother, celebrating the 450th anniversary of the founding of America’s oldest city at the site of the current shrine.

The chapel sits on what is sometimes called “America’s most sacred acre,” a peaceful parcel of land overlooking an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. The diocesan website explains the importance of the site:

At this site, the first documented parish Mass in America took place (with four celebrants, the main one Father Francisco López de Mendoza Grajales) as a prominent explorer who they accompanied, Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, from Cadiz, Spain, and his fleet of ships made landing, kissing a Cross. The Mass was one of thanksgiving — opening a claim that this was America’s first thanksgiving day (it too involved a feast and Indians).

“The historical record tells us that the action of kissing the Cross and the celebration of the first Mass in what is now the City of Saint Augustine, Florida, permanently planted the Christian Faith in the land that is now the United States of America,” said Bishop Estévez in making the declaration.

The spot of the Mass is marked today with a 208-foot Cross that’s believed to be the world’s tallest. Recent archaeological digs by the University of Florida have unearthed the original pole-and-palm-roof chapel. It is the first parish in the U.S. — so old it was originally under the diocese of Havana, Cuba (and later Savannah, Georgia).

The shrine is often visited by women who seek to have a child, are having problems with pregnancy, or simply pray for a healthy birth and family. Many claim miraculous interventions. The full name for Mary here is “Nuestra Señora de la Leche y Buen Parto – Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Deliver.” The site was originally called “Nombre de Dios” — the Name of God, itself a sign perhaps of our time, as devotions to God the Father are increasingly under discussion, after centuries of neglect: unearthed as now this holy spot unearths the founding, at a climactic time, of American Catholicism.

* * * * *

The History of the Shrine

The Shrine of Our Lady of La Leche, on the grounds of the Mission Nombre de Dios

On September 8, 1565, Admiral Pedro Menendez de Aviles landed with a band of settlers on the shore of what is now Florida, where he established the city of St. Augustine. A formal Franciscan mission–perhaps the first mission in the continental United States–was founded near the city in 1587. The Mission Nombre de Dios (Mission of the Name of God) served nearby villages of the Mocama tribe, a Timucua group, and was at the center of an important chiefdom in the late 16th and 17th centuries.

At the Mission, resident Spanish colonists were served by missionaries–first Jesuits, then later Franciscans. The missionaries also attempted to evangelize the local Mocama and Agua Dulce peoples near St. Augustine, converting the chief and his daughter.

The statue of Our Lady of La Leche, in its niche behind the altar

In the 1670s, the Spanish governor of Florida ordered a church to be erected on a site adjacent to the Castillo de San Marcos, a fortress which was under construction. The church was completed in 1677, and was dedicated to Nuestra Senora de la Leche y Buen Parto–which means “Our Lady of the Milk and Happy Delivery.”

Today, the faithful and the curious visit this church, a quiet spot for prayer and reflection. Some make a pilgrimage to pray before the statue of Our Lady of La Leche, lighting candles and scrolling prayers for a couple just beginning married life, for the gift of a child, or for a healthy pregnancy and a safe delivery.

I told the story of the Mission, and my visit to the Shrine last summer, here.

* * * * *

Origin of the Devotion

Devotion to Our Lady of La Leche (Our Lady of the Milk) dates back to the Holy Land, where the Milk Grotto is a popular devotional site.

According to tradition, the Holy Family took refuge in the Milk Grotto during Herod’s Slaughter of the Innocents, before their flight into Egypt. There in the grotto, Mary nursed the newborn Jesus; and while she was nursing, a drop of milk fell to the ground—immediately turning the rock white.

The grotto has been a holy site for both Christians and Muslims, who believe that scrapings from the soft white stones in the grotto can boost the quantity of a mother’s milk and enhance fertility. The custom is for nursing mothers to mix the shavings into their drinking water. Expectant mothers place the rock shavings under their mattress.

Learn more about the Milk Grotto here.

Mission Nombre de Dios

Our Lady of La Leche

St. Augustine

Previous Post

October 8, 2014

Flannery O'Connor Has Become So Collectible!

Next Post

October 10, 2014 Sauter de Joie! Young Parisian Religious in Notre Dame Flash Mob

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category #Synod14 Abortion Abstinence Abuse Addiction Adoption Advent Adventure Advertising Aging Agnosticism All Saints Day All Souls Day Amish Anathema Angels Anglican Animals Annulment Annunciation Apocalypse Apologetics Apostles Apostleship of the Sea Apparitions Archangels Archbishop Cordileone Archbishop Dolan Archbishop Vigneron Archeology Architecture Art Art Buchwald Ash Wednesday Assisted Suicide Astronauts Atheism Athletes Babies Baptism Beatification Beauty Bible Biochemistry Bioethics Birds Bishop Lori Bishops Blasphemy Books Canon Law Canonization Capital Punishment Cardinal Burke Cardinal Dolan Cardinal George Caritas Catechesis Catechism of the Catholic Church Catholic Catholic Education Catholic Higher Education Catholic Social Teaching Celibacy Cemeteries Character Charity Chastity Cheapskate Christian Unity Christmas Churches Civil Rights Cloning Comedy Communion of Saints Community Kitchens Confession Confirmation Conscience Consequences Consistory Constitution Contraception Conversion Cooking Councils of the Church Creativity Criminal Justice Cristero War Crucifixion Crystal Cathedral Culture Death Death and Dying Death Penalty Department of Health and Human Services Diaconate Dictatorship of Relativism Dignity Disability Discrimination Dissidence Divorce Doctors of the Church Early Church Fathers Easter Economics Ecumenism Education Encyclicals Environmentalism Episcopal Church Eucharist Euthanasia Evangelism Evangelists Evangelization Evolution Excuses Facebook Faith Families Family Fashion Fasting Fatherhood Federal Government Feminism Fiction Film First Amendment First Communion For Greater Glory Forgiveness Free Speech Friends Friendship Gender Discrimination Germany Gnosticism Good Friday Government Grace Greed Gregorian Calendar Happiness Health Heaven Heresy History Holidays Holiness Hollywood Holy Land Holy Saturday Holy Spirit Holy Week Holy Year Home Sweet Home Homosexuality Hope Humanism Humility Humor Imagination Immaculate Conception Immigration Impulsivity In Vitro Fertilization Incarnation Indulgences Infallibility Internet Islam Italy Jerusalem Jesus Judaism Justice Kathleen Sebelius Labor Movement LCWR Lent Life Literature Liturgy Lourdes Love Magi Marketing Marriage Martyrdom Martyrs Mary Mass Media Medical Ethics Mexico Michigan Miracles Missionaries Modernism Modesty Monks Monothelitism Motherhood Movies Mushrooms Music Muslim Mystery Mysticism Mythology Nativity Natural Law Nature New Evangelization New Media New Year New Year's Resolutions Nostalgia Obscenity Occult Old Testament Origen Orthodox Orvieto Pallium Papacy Parenting Patience Patriarch Bartholomew Patriotism Peace Peace and Justice Penitence Pentecost People Persecution Philosophy Poetry Political activism Political Correctness Politics Polls Pop Culture Pope Benedict XVI Pope Francis Pope John Paul II Pope John XXIII Pope Paul VI Pope St. Pius X Pope Urban VII Population Prayer Preaching Prejudice Pride Priesthood Pro-Life Protestantism Psychology Purgatory Queenship of Mary Racism Rape Real Presence Reconciliation Reformation Relics Religious Religious Liberty Reliquary Renewal Reproductive Technology Resurrection Rights Romance Rome Royalty Sacraments Sacred Heart Saints Satanism Science Science Fiction Scripture Seal of Confession Secularism Seniors September 11 Seventy Times Seven Sexuality Sharks Sin Smoking Social Communications Social Justice Social Networking Social Sciences Space Exploration Spirituality Sports St. Luke St. Patrick's Day St. Paul St. Peter St. Teresa of Avila Stations of the Cross Steve Jobs Superstition Supreme Court Symbolism Synod Technology Teen Rebellion Television Terrorism Thankfulness Thanksgiving Theology Think This, Not That Tobit Toilets Toys Tradition Traditions Transplants Travel Trinity Twitter U.S. Air Force Uncategorized United Nations USCCB Valentine Vatican Vatican Archives Vatican Blogfest Virtue Vocations Where We Pray White Heart Women World Day of Social Communications World Meeting of Families World News World Youth Day Worship Writing Year of Consecrated Life Year of Faith Year of Mercy Youth

Select a Month December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many stringed instruments were used in the Temple?

Select your answer to see how you score.

10 5 7 3