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| Miners carrying the statue of St Lorenzo, the Patron Saint of miners |
- A statue of St Lorenzo, the patron Saint of miners, was carried to the entrance of the mine shaft, and also placed in the presidential palace by President Sebastian Pinera.
- The miners asked for a crucifix, statues of Mary and other saints to be sent down to them, where they created a shrine.
- The Pope blessed 33 pairs of Rosary beads that were sent down to the miners. In return, they sent the Pope a flag.
Of course, there would have been many prayers offered by those family and friends of the trapped miners, including minor Mario Gomez, who was the last up and their foreman, who fell to his knees in a prayer of thanks as he came up.
Some snippets -
The 33 miners trapped in the San Jose Mine in Atacama, Chile have requested that statues and religious pictures be sent down to them as they wait to be rescued, reports CNN.
Chilean officials say the rescue could take months but that they hope to reach the miners by Christmas. The copper mine collapsed on August 5, and the 33 miners have been trapped in a space nearly half a mile underground ever since.
A small passageway has already been put in place so messages and supplies can be sent to the trapped miners.
Although a crucifix has already been sent down, the miners are continuing to request more statues of Mary and the saints – as well as a Chilean flag to construct a make-shift chapel. “The miners want to set up a section of the chamber they are in as a shrine,” Chilean’s Minister of Health, Jaime Manalich told CNN.
This week, President Sebastian Pinera spoke with the miners by phone and then placed a statue of St. Lorenzo, the patron of miners, in the presidential palace together with 32 Chilean flags and one Bolivian flag to represent each of the miners trapped since August 5. LINK
and
One of the first things the miners’ relatives did at the pithead, while it still looked as though they must be all dead, was to set up a statue of St Lawrence, patron saint of miners (see above), who in statues of him in this role movingly wears a miner’s hat and carries a miner’s lamp. And the whole rescue mission was placed under his patronage: it was called simply Operation San Lorenzo. LINKand
Cardinal Francisco Errázuriz celebrated Mass on Thursday near the Chilean mine where 33 men have spent almost a month trapped 700 meters (2,300 feet) below ground. The archbishop of Santiago, Chile, also brought a special gift for each of the miners: a rosary blessed and sent them by the Pope. The cardinal was able to speak with the miners, telling them that on Sunday, Benedict XVI remembered them during his address before the midday Angelus. The Holy Father assured his spiritual closeness to the miners and promised his prayers for their speedy rescue. The rosaries are another way to express his affection, the cardinal explained. "I was able to tell the miners on the telephone that I had come bringing them the 33 rosaries that the Pope had sent especially to them, that he himself blessed, so that he added this gesture to his words. [...] His words that were addressed to the whole world, so that everyone would accompany us and pray for the success of this rescue operation," Cardinal Errázuriz later reported. I also told them that "we were proud of them, of the spirit with which they face this enormous difficulty with much fortitude, with much discipline among themselves and much faith, and not only with hope but with joy," he added. LINKI guess the liberal, left-wing media is not interested in promoting the spiritual aspect of their rescue. The rescue went extremely well, and I think the spiritual aspect; the prayers and intercession, cannot be brushed aside as of no importance, but which the secular media will and has. They have no faith, so aren't interested, and they certainly don't want to show Pope Benedict doing anything to help.
Thank God that the people of Chile believe though.