By Jim Davis - Florida Catholic
Statue of the ascending Christ is silhouetted against a sunburst window behind the altar at Our Lady of Divine Providence. The statue is from the church's original building.
Gabriel announces to Mary that she will bear the Son of God.
Mary, pregnant with the Christ Child, greets Elizabeth, herself pregnant with John the Baptist.
Joseph and Mary care for the Christ Child, as the Star of Bethlehem shines down on them.
The Holy Spirit as a dove alights on Jesus as he is baptized by John the Baptist.
Christ transfigures before Peter, James and John, as he talks with Moses and Elijah.
"Do this in remembrance of me," Jesus tells his followers at the Last Supper.
"If possible, let this cup pass from me," Jesus prays in the Garden of Gethsemane.
Christ is crucified, with his few remaining friends looking on.
Mary Magdalene meets the risen Christ.
Christ ascends before his awed disciples.
The Holy Spirit brings tongues of fire to Mary and the disciples in the Pentecost window.
A jubilant Mary is assumed into heaven.
The Holy Spirit dove hovers over Mary as she becomes Queen of Heaven.
The Christ Candle at Our Lady of Divine Providence is marked with red nails and a blue cross. The Alpha and Omega stand for Jesus' self-designation as the beginning and end of history.
One of two baptism windows at the main entrance shows a font, a shell and a dove standing for the Holy Spirit.
The other baptism window at the main entrance shows a shell dispensing water and a vial of oil, knit together by a cross.
The chapel also includes a large painting of Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of the Mercedarian Friars. The order, founded in 1218, is dedicated to ransoming slaves - even to the point of becoming hostages themselves to win freedom for others.
Statue of Mary stands in an apse high on the wall to one side of the main window . . .
. . . with a statue of Joseph on the other side.
Fronting the pulpit are symbols for the four Evangelists, who wrote the four books of the Gospel. Clockwise from the top left, they are St. Matthew as an angel, St. Luke as an ox, St. John as an eagle and St. Mark as a lion.
Bas-relief version of Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper painting takes up the front of the altar at Our Lady of Divine Providence.
Marian statue greets people at the parish school. The angels at her feet identify it as a depiction of the Assumption.
Someone has left a child figurine, draped with a rosary, at a memorial plaque for aborted children. The plaque was donated by a chapter of the Knights of Columbus.
Photography: Jim Davis
SWEETWATER | This month’s featured parish is dedicated to Mary herself, as Our Lady of Divine Providence – patroness of Puerto Rico and focus of devotions in several nations, including at least one U.S. state capital.
The devotion is based on a painting, Mater Divinae Providentiae, created around 1580 by Renaissance painter Scipione Pulzone. It shows Mary with the Christ Child drowsing on her lap, his left hand curled trustingly around one of her fingers.
The picture is said to be associated with a New Testament event, when Jesus turned water to wine at a wedding. Because Mary prompted him to perform the miracle, she is also called Queen of the Home.
Photographer: James Dwight Davis
Mary cradles the Christ Child in the church adoration chapel. Images of Our Lady of Divine Providence are meant to show her care for him.
In 1663, the painting was given to the Barnabite Fathers who ran the Church of San Carlo ai Catinari in Rome. A copy was hung over the altar a few decades later, and many pilgrims to the church said their prayers were granted.
In 1774, Pope Benedict XIV founded the Confraternity of Our Lady of Providence, which spread throughout Europe, South America, even Turkey. In Spain, a shrine was built in the Catalonian city of Tarragona.
Bishop Gil Esteve Tomás, a Catalonian, became bishop of Puerto Rico in the 1850s, dedicating his work to the Divine Providence. He found the cathedral run down and the finances of the diocese in bad shape, but he restored it in five years.
In gratitude, Bishop Tomás had a Divine Providence image brought from Barcelona to the cathedral. In 1920, it was replaced by a carved wooden version that can still be seen today.
Pope Paul VI firmed up the connection with Puerto Rico in 1969, when he declared Our Lady of Divine Providence its patron saint. He made the declaration on Nov. 19, the day Columbus found the island in 1493. It’s also become her feast day, blending Puerto Ricans’ love for Mary with their love for their island.
Other Americans pay homage to Our Lady of Divine Providence as well. She is the patroness of Indiana, where the National Shrine of Our Lady of Divine Providence was founded in 1925. There, the Sisters of Providence light candles and take prayer requests for Our Lady.
Photographer: James Dwight Davis
The chapel also includes a large painting of Our Lady of Mercy, the patroness of the Mercedarian Friars. The order, founded in 1218, is dedicated to 'the ransoming of slaves' - even to the point of becoming hostages themselves to win freedom for others.
Another center of devotion is New York City, where a Spanish-language Mass is celebrated around Nov. 19 at the imposing St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Our Lady of Divine Providence is also the patroness of the Diocese of Providence, Rhode Island.
A Mass for her is likewise planned at 7 p.m. Nov. 19 at her namesake church in the Archdiocese of Miami. Archbishop Coleman F. Carroll dedicated the church to her when he established the parish in June 1973.
The congregation first worshiped in a warehouse behind a grocery store, but collected for a building fund in various ways. They held raffles for a car, a TV, a cruise and three days at a hotel in Orlando. A house was also sold and the proceeds donated to the church.
In 1978, the archdiocesan Building Commission approved plans for the parish’s first church structure, which was dedicated in December 1979. Two years later, the church began building a parish school, reaching eighth grade in 1991. (It became a charter school in 2009.)
The feast of Divine Providence in 2004 became a special celebration as the church dedicated its second home. As a memorial to its past, the congregation placed behind the altar the ascension statue of Jesus from its original building.
Members run a broad range of ministries including local branches of Cursillo, Respect Life, Columbiettes, the charismatic movement and the Knights of Columbus.
Nor have social concerns been forgotten. During the 1980 Mariel exodus from Cuba, Our Lady of Divine Providence became a hub for refugee services including shelter, English classes and psychological counseling for more than four months.
Parishioners have held a “Jericho Wall” demonstration calling for freedom in Cuba. They’ve also campaigned for normalizing the status of migrants from Nicaragua and El Salvador.
