“(…) It is largely to the children of La Rioja, who have been arriving in this area ever since the remote days of the Conquest, that we owe the devotion to Our Lady of Valvanera. It was they who sowed the seeds of this sweet Marian title; they brought fire in their hearts, and soon the sparks were given off to light the flames of this marvelous delight” (LABARGA, F. (2014), P.81.)

These were the words of Father Eugenio Ayape, a Colombian Augustinian friar, when referring to the widespread popularity of devotion to Our Lady of Valvanera beyond the geographic limitations of its origins. Although the subject of the image of Our Lady of Valvanera was particularly deeply-rooted in that area, with the iconography originating in the Rioja region, it is also true that the countless individuals who at one time travelled to the Americas facilitated the dissemination of its devotion throughout the Spanish Crown’s overseas territories.

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