Our Lady of the Candles

https://www.roman-catholic-saints.com/our-lady-of-the-candles.html 

September 17:
Our Lady of the Candles (15th Century)

When white men came to the Canary Islands for the first time, the natives presented them with a mystery that no one has ever solved, even to this day - the presence on the islands of a statue of Our Lady!

The natives had discovered the statue of Our Lady of the Candles in the year 1400, as it had been found in a cave by 2 shepherds who had entered the cave seeking refuge from a storm.
Neither of them had ever seen a statue before, & so thought it was a living being.

The sheep wouldn't enter the cave, seemingly out of fear of the statue, so at first the 2 shepherds motioned for the stranger to go away.
When the statue didn't move or respond, one of the men picked up a rock to throw at it.

Instantly his arms stiffened so that he could not move, & his arms began to throb in pain.
The other shepherd moved in close to the statue, & although it seemed to watch him, yet still it neither moved nor spoke.

Puzzled, he took out his knife & tried to cut its finger - but instead of marking the statue, his own finger received the wound he'd attempted to inflict, & then began to bleed profusely!
Terrified, the 2 men fled the scene, leaving their sheep & everything else behind them.

The men reported what had happened to their chief, relating their belief that a great god lived in the cave. The chief commanded them to bring this being to him.
Overcoming their fear, the 2 shepherds returned to the cave & found the statue hadn't moved.

When the first of them reached out to take hold of it, as soon as he had touched the statue he found his finger was instantly healed of the wound he'd received.

The men reverently carried the statue to a house where their chief directed & tried to show it honor in the best way they knew how.
A few nights later they were surprised to hear beautiful music, & to see strange beings, all glowing & alight, setting candles around the strange “god” & lighting them.
The natives had never seen candles.

A special house was built for the statue, & for 50 years there was beautiful music, light, & a lovely fragrance surrounding the statue that no one could explain.
The natives made offerings of fruit & flowers, & noted that the light “beings” kept the candles burning around the crude altar.

In 1520 a native boy was captured & taken to Spain; he returned after a few years, & told the natives about Christianity.
When missionaries came, the people were prepared to receive them & the True Faith.

Christians who had recently arrived & lived on a nearby island, recognized whom the statue must represent.
At first, they begged the natives of Tenerife to let them have it, though the pagan natives refused, claiming she had brought them good fortune.

The Christians decided to steal the statue of Our Lady of the Candles, feeling it was only proper that it should be in Christian hands.
They succeeded in their plan, & brought the statue to their church, setting it on the high altar & surrounding it with burning candles.

Returning in the morning, they found that the statue had turned its back to the congregation, & no amount of pulling could get it turned to the front again.
A serious sickness then invaded the island, &, repentant & frightened, the Christians took the statue back.
Surprisingly, the natives hadn't noticed that it had been taken.

The incredible explanation was that another statue, & exact duplicate to Our Lady of the Candles, had stood in its place during the entire time the original had been away.

Not surprisingly, devotion to Our Lady of the Candles spread rapidly through Spanish countries to South America & the Philippines.

The original statue of Our Lady of the Candles was made of heavy reddish wood, which had never been identified. It is 3 ½ feet high.
The eyes of the statue seem to follow the beholder, & the color of the cheeks sometimes changes.
The hair is uncovered, golden & worn in braids.
The Babe has a golden bird in its hands.
Our Lady holds a candle in her hand.

Since there are no bees on the island, the candles are also a mystery.
A few days before the feast of Candlemass in the year 1497, great quantities of a particularly pure wax were found at various places on the island.
Several times since, the same thing has happened.
People gather the wax & save it for pious souvenirs.

It is sometimes found in the shape of loaves, weighing 10 or 12 pounds.
Another mystery concerns the candle stumps which even today are found near the cave.
Some are set up on the rocks of the beach.
Wax & wicks are of strange materials, which the good people of the neighborhood insist could only have come from heaven.