Nuestra Senora dela Merced

Our Lady of Ransom or Our Lady of Mercy

While in Europe, one can be assured that I popped in to every shop in which there was a monstrance in the window. I confess it's been my ambition to one day buy, make, design, or somehow or other procure a monstrance and then donate it to a church. Thus while in Assisi (where I bought a most gorgeous pyx), I'm sure the Franciscans loved me. In and out I went.

One shop, however, was a bit pricey for me (actually, most of them were), yet it didn't stop me from spending 15 Euro on holy cards! There were too many cool ones with lovely sweet Victorian images like this one of St. Rose of Lima. Among the holy cards I couldn't turn down was a Marian image with which I was not familiar. The title at the bottom proclaimed it "Nuestra Senora de la Merced" -- Our Lady of Mercy. In one hand she held a sceptre with chains attached to it, and in her other a white scapular. She was crowned and wore a religious habit -- something like the Dominican habit with a shield on the scapular and a carmelite cappa. Under her feet was the moon and at her feet knelt a king and a knight.

Well, naturally this appealed to me very much. But I had totally forgotten about it until I opened my Missal yesterday and these cards, carelessly shoved between the pages, fell out (I must have been in a hurry -- I am too prone to putting Important Things between the pages of books and then shelving those books).

Sifting through them again I once again saw Our Lady of Mercy, and decided to figure out what she was all about. This is what I found:

Tradition has it that around 1218, St. Peter Nolasco and James I, King of Aragon and Catalonia, experienced separately a vision of the Most Holy Virgin who asked them to found a religious order dedicated to rescuing the many Christian captives held by the Moslems. This Order of Our Lady of Mercy, also known as Our Lady of Ramson, approved as a military order in 1235 by Pope Gregory IX, was able to liberate thousands of Christian prisoners, and later became dedicated to teaching and social work...

In 1730 she was proclaimed "Patroness of the Peruvian Lands" and in 1823 "Patroness of the Armies of the Republic." On the first centennial of the nation's independence, the image was solemnly crowned and received the title of "Grand Marshall of Peru" on September 24, 1921, Feast of Our Lady of Mercy, since then declared a national holiday, when every year the army renders homage to her high military rank.

The image carries numerous decorations granted by the Republic of Peru, its governors and national institutions. In 1970 the town council of Lima gave her the keys of the city, and in 1971 the president of the Republic conferred on her the Great Peruvian Cross of Naval Merit, gestures which evidence the affection and devotion of Peru to Our Lady of Mercy, that many consider their national patroness.