Basilica de La Virgen del Carmen
Catemaco, Veracruz
Catemaco is a pilgrimage destination for much of coastal Veracruz, Mexico and as far as Oaxaca and Puebla.

Allegedly, Mary, the mother of God in Christianity, appeared to a fisherman in 1664 in a cave at El Tegal, on
the shores of Laguna Catemaco, a half mile northeast of downtown Catemaco City, coinciding with one of
the recorded eruptions of Volcano San Martin.

She supposedly left her foot steps in the basaltic rock in front of the cave and transformed herself into a
statue.
Religious knickknacks
 Basil sellers in front of the Basilica
Pilgrim buses
 Forlorn pilgrims
A more verifiable explanation is the story of missionaries of
the Carmelite order from Puebla on their way to
Coatzacoalcos being stranded in Catemaco in 1714 during
heavy rains. In their luggage they carried a copy of a statue
of "Our Lady of Mount Carmel" from Valencia, Spain.
Apparently, the local population was enthralled by the statue
and requested she be left in Catemaco.

Thus began the wondrous story of "La Virgen del Carmen"
culminating in the grand basilica now gracing Catemaco´s
town square.
The Virgin  has also been known as "La Virgen del Volcan".
(Virgin of the Volcano), and she is also the patron saint of
thousands of churches, dozens of other cities (Ciudad del
Carmen and others) and a country (Peru). Her feast day is
one of 18 Mary days in the catholic calendar.

At present her celebration is keyed to  her apparition to an
English friar of the monastic "Order of Our Lady of Mount
Carmel" in 1251.  Mount Carmel is a range of hills near Haifa,
Israel. The hills supposedly housed religious hermits since
before Christ. The anniversary date of July 16 was officially
set by the Vatican in 1726, accepting the Carmelite tradition of
her appearance on that date.
TThroughout her existence in Catemaco, the Virgin statue
has been credited with numerous miracles and cures, and
tens of thousands of believers visit her local shrines
throughout the year, seeking communion with the mother of
God.

At first, the Catemaco community housed the virgin in a
palapa style building, which soon was converted into a
stucco chapel, possibly around 1719. Catemaco´s catholic
worshippers were not declared a parish until 1896 and as
of todate the parish is still part of the diocese of San Andres
Tuxtla.

In 1953 began the construction of the current church,
ending in 1961.  By 1964  the Vatican bestowed the title of
basilica to the church, only one of 27 in Mexico. It is
considered a minor basilica, associated with Saint Mary
Major Basilica (or the Liberian Basilica), in Rome, Italy, one of
the 5 major basilicas in the world.

The basilica appears a lot older than its less than 50 years
because its architectural features borrowed from
neoclassicism, barocco and romanesque styles. It features
a 70 feet tall gold laminated cupola, and the 23 stained glass
windows of its interior naves illustrate the life of Jesus and
Mary.

Celebration of "La Virgen del Carmen" usually culminates in
a huge county fair surrounding her anniversary of July 16th.
Walking processions from many of the outback communities
of Los Tuxtlas congregate in Catemaco City to enjoy both its
spiritual welcome and sponsored entertainment.
The sanctuary is equipped with money slots for donations and
accepts gold, probably for golden roof repairs. Outside the
church, vendors sell bunches of sweet basil, which
worshippers carry to the Virgin statue to be blessed and then
to wave over themselves in a form of ritual cleaning. The
brujos of Catemaco have incorporated  that gesture in their
own theatrics.

Every yearly celebration is a noteworthy event, drawing
together much of Catemaco´s population in a whirl of activities,
ranging from the boat men´s parading the Virgin around the
waters of Laguna Catemaco, its horsemen forming a cavalcade
to El Tegal, the mayor welcoming the processions from outlying
communities, a huge communal dance, cattlemen competing in
milking their cows and its sanitary workers cleaning up after
100`s of bus loads of pilgrims who flooded the hotels and any
public sleeping spaces.
the first church