Mary, Hope Of Chris­tians was the theme for the Feast of La Div­ina Pas­to­ra which was cel­e­brat­ed at the Siparia RC Church on Sun­day.

Op­po­si­tion Leader Pen­ne­lope Beck­les at­tend­ed the Mass which was of­fi­ci­at­ed by Arch­bish­op Robert Ri­vas and parish priest Fr San­thosh Puliyam­makkal.

The high­light of the day was the pro­ces­sion with the stat­ue of La Div­ina through the streets around the church.

La Div­ina Pas­to­ra (The Di­vine Shep­herdess) is revered by Hin­dus and Catholics and devo­tees of both faiths at­test to the mir­a­cles they re­ceived from her.

The stat­ue that is the fo­cus of the an­nu­al cel­e­bra­tions is be­lieved to have been brought to Trinidad by a Span­ish Ca­puchin priest trav­el­ling from Venezuela who claimed it saved his life.

A Catholic mis­sion was es­tab­lished in the 1750s in Siparia and it lat­er be­came a parish in 1906.

The stat­ue, a Black Madon­na, veiled and crowned, and hold­ing a shep­herdess’ staff in her right hand, is be­lieved to be an Amerindi­an sculp­ture carved out of wood. It is ap­prox­i­mate­ly three feet, four inch­es tall with long, black hu­man hair. Jew­els and rosaries adorn the gown.