CHILE, Mauricio Donoso. Boys’ Youth from the Roses of Mary Shrine, in San Fernando, Chile, placed the first stone of their work for this new stage as a branch in Chile. It is Saturday afternoon in the valley of Colchagua, and a group of youth climb a hill, with the storng sunlight that shines on them, that encourages them to climb higher and higher…They reach the peak, they see the valley from the heights, they try to identify places that they know below in the city…they recognize their school, some houses towards the south…and to the North? The Shrine!
Yes, they are the Schoenstatt Pioneers. It is the branch from San Fernando that climbed to the peak of the hill that accompanies the Roses of Mary Shrine ( 140km south of Santiago) to build the first stone. To lay the foundation. To build more history from this point and set more hearts afire for the “Blessed Mother, just like almost everyone from Chile calls the Mother Thrice Admirable of Schoenstatt. They youth climbed hills, they walked kilmeters, they camp, they lose sleep, all for the Blessed Mother…
They had gathered at the Shrine the day before to carry out their monthly journey as a branch of Boys’ Youth, and along with Father Raimundo Costa, their adviser, and their branch leader, Matias Soffia, they reviewed their history, they saw Saint Paul as a pioneer friend, recalling all the Schoenstatt heroes: the Black Crosses…Hans Wormer, Max Brunner, Joseph Engling, Adolf Baldauf…and a Chilean: Mario Hiriart! They were all heroes who struggled in their lives to be saints, to be new men in a new world, for their Queen: the Blessed Mother.
Everything was born of a promise
To recall the “Ave imperatrix, moriturite salutant!” of Brunner, or the “Dear Mother “of Hiriart, are the footsteps that today we recognize as an example, from history for our history, for the personality of the sodalist of third milleminium, he who crowns Mary with his sword in the Shrine, and who today prepares this fertile land of Chile, so that Mary will reign in it as the Blessed Mother of Carmen.
It was the Liberator General Bernardo O’Higgins, who, after struggling along with José de San Martin and the Liberation Army of the Andes for the liberation of Chile from the Spanish crown – promised to raise a church to whom he had made a promise for the Independence of Chile: the Blessed Mother of Carmen.
In this way, everything was born of a promise. On March 14, 1818, before the advance of the Spanish armies, the civil authorities and religious went to the Cathedral to ask for the intercession of the Blessed Mother of Carmen, and they swore to build a church in her memory, in the place where freedom would be obtained for Chile forever. The oath read: “A Shrine to the Blessed Mother of Carmen, Patron and General of the Armies of Chile, will be built at the same site where the Battle is fought and victory is obtained; and the foundation will be placed by the same magistrates that wrote this pledge and in the same place of her mercy, which will be of her Glory”.
Our Battle, Mother Queen of Chile
In January of 2009, at the conclusion of their CANAPI (National Camp of Pioneers), the Pioneers of Chile presented the sword of Saint Paul to the Blessed Mother of Carmen and they swore the password: +Our Battle, Mother Queen of Chile+
+Our Battle, Mary Queen of Chile+
Today, we, the Pioneers of San Fernando Branch, commit to persevere in all the ideals that the Blessed Mother proposes to us, to give our yes to Mary offering ourselves and everything that we carry out, as Capital of Grace. We will use the abilities and qualities of each one of us to give life to the Blessed Mother and the branch, and we will be obedient. Valley of San Fernando of Colchagua, Chile
After reading the talk aloud, this document was photographed and buried beneath the concrete as a cornerstone close to the Cross Sword of the branch and the bracelets with the motto: +Father, we will conquer your dream with strength and joy+. This along with the meaning of the text was the first stone of commitment. The Corss Sword symbolized all the work and community that was acoomplished in the history that accompanied the branch. Because the bracelets were inscribed with the motto of the past, they no longer says “we will conquer” rather, it says, “we conquered” the desire of Father Kentenich to make this corner of Chile, a “Schoenstatt Holy Marian Land”.
In conclusion, Father Raimundo Costa blessed the first stone on the hillside and it was sealed with concrete.
In this way, from Schoenstatt, Chile again makes history for the Church in the nation.
Translation: Celina Garza, San Antonio, USA/ Melissa Janknegt, Elgin, USA
