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 Archivo Interpatagonia
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If you are eager to know places through faith, there is a chance of doing it when visiting the Church built in honor of " La Virgen de las Nieves" and where Lay Sister Laura Vicuña is also venerated. She was a pupil in María Auxiliadora High School and died at the early age of 13. |
Laura Vicuña's Story will come into your way as you go around the area and we will summarize it in in the following paragraph.
Laura Vicuña was a young Chilean girl that arrived to the area with her mother and sister. They were running away from the Chilean Civil War. She studied in María Auxiliadora School which belongs to the Salesians and where the Sisters keep memories of the days spent by the girl at school until she died in 1904.
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You will be able to visit the building and the patio where there is a rosebush by which side Laura used to pray.
You can also visit the places where she used to live - Fosbery Estancia and Manuel Mora's Stand nearby Quilquihue River, the exact place where the Sisters bathed Laura to lower her the fever and where they also used to wash their clothes and the hermitage on Laura Vicuña Street.
You can also visit the poor house where she died and the place where she was buried, at the foot of Cerro de la Cruz ( Hill of the Cross ) - the first cementery of Junín de los Andes.
She offered her life and youth for her mother's redemption since she lived a poor Cristian life.
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After she died, her exemplary behaviour and whole life increased the faith of Catholics giving way to miracles. A miracle that was determinant in her Beatification was the one protagonized by Sor Ofelia Lobos Arellano, religious of María Auxiliadora Institute who started suffering from an incurable illness. She had to bear different medical treatments and surgeries and finally, the doctors gave the prognosis of very few months of life. |
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Being in this situation, she started praying to Laura Vicuña to be cured. One night , she had the feeling that God would listen to her through the intercession of Laura. On the following morning, oxygen was taken away and she quickly recovered from the illness. Thirty years have passed by since that moment and Sor Ofelia is still serving God in a very healthy way.
Nuestra Señora de las Nieves Church is a modern building with pure lines and austere ornamentation which naturally lightens the place highlighting the main images and the praying and meditation areas.
The place has been conceived with the intention of integrating faith and belief with the roots of the native community paying homage to one of the favorite inhabitants - Laura Vicuña. |
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