Uruguay: The Sacred Heart of Jesus attracts faithful in the center of the country

The town of San Jorge, located in the heart of Uruguay, was the place chosen to install the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, an initiative of two laywomen that had the support of the community, with the desire to become a place of devotion for the faithful throughout the country.

The initiative arose from the Uruguayan Lucía Rodríguez, who has lived in Spain for more than 30 years, and her daughter Paula, who wanted to bring to the center of Uruguay an image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, just as it happens on the Cerro de los Ángeles, geographic center of Spain.

The work had the support of the community and was carried out by architect Gerardo Barrabino. The image is located on a pedestal that includes a majolica of the Virgin of the Thirty-Three, patron saint of Uruguay.

In dialogue with the program Today I want to talk to youfrom Radio Oriental, Lucía Rodríguez explained that the initiative has the support of the Bishop of Florida, Mons. Martín Pérez Scremini, and the community of the town of San Jorge.

Regarding obtaining the image, the woman explained “we found a workshop in Madrid where there are artists who make religious images, who had a replica of the one in the Basilica of the Great Promise of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, in Valladolid.”

“Blessed Bernardo de Hoyos had been in that place and Jesus had appeared to him and showed him his heart,” he said.

For his part, the architect Barrabino related: “Since I received a call from Lucía, whom I did not know at all, telling me that she was a Uruguayan who lived in Spain and that she wanted to see if she could put an image of the Sacred Heart in the center of the country, we got to work.”

“Lucía had the idea of ​​the pedestal, I was more of a builder. She, in fact, sent me some very good sketches of what she imagined. We exchanged ideas and there we started to think about a fundamental issue: how do we build this structure in San Jorge, a very small town, which is very far from everything,” she recalled.

“That’s when we thought of making it out of Corten steel, which turns orange but doesn’t corrode. The effect is truly spectacular and lasts for many years and does not require any type of maintenance,” he noted.

Once the work was completed, Lucía and her daughter Paula traveled from Spain to visit her family, and from there to San Jorge, which was “quite an adventure,” she said.

“Being received by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, by the people, who were all very happy, the ladies celebrating, making cakes for a snack, cookies… It was like being with family,” he described. “We ended that afternoon praying the rosary at the foot of the image. It was a day full of blessings,” summarized the woman.

Regarding the impact, especially due to the devotion aroused by the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the architect was “surprised by the echo this had.”

“When I wanted to remember, there were many people who had devotion to the Sacred Heart, and whom I did not know,” he highlighted.

“It is God who ultimately moves people,” said Barrabino. For this reason, he considers that Saint George can become “an important focus of devotion.”

“San Jorge is on Route 100, which crosses the middle of the town and has a few blocks on one side and the other. And the route in the town becomes a boulevard, with a very large, beautiful and well-kept flowerbed. In one corner is the chapel of St. George built in 1917 or 1919. In that corner of the chapel, in the garden, is the monument, so you can really see it from all sides,” he explained.

The Mass, blessing and renewal of the consecration of Uruguay to the Sacred Heart of Jesus will be next Sunday, September 22 at 3:00 p.m.

There, the consecration made in 1875 by Blessed Jacinto Vera, first Bishop of Uruguay, whose beatification was celebrated on May 6, 2023, will be pronounced, which we share below:

Heart of Jesus:

You are our comfort and our hope.

Humbly prostrated in your presence, we ask forgiveness of our sins.

We proclaim that we want to live and die in your service and worthily correspond to your sovereign designs of mercy in favor of the Church and society.

We consecrate to you our people and our families, our interests and our property, the present and the future.

We ask you, Lord, to kindly accept our prayers for your Holy Church, for the conversion and salvation of men, for the peace and prosperity of our country and of all peoples.

Amen.

Most Holy Heart, save us!

Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us!