Santa María de la Antigua, Patron Saint of Panama

Here is the story that is told at several sites on the internet. In the 16th century the cathedral at Seville was reconstructed. Left standing was one wall that featured an image of the Virgin.  Because the image was from the old cathedral, it was called Santa María de la Antigua.

When Balboa conquered Panama he made one of the indigenous towns the new capital and renamed it Santa María de la Antigua; a chapel in the town was dedicated to the Virgin under that name.

Some sources on the internet refer to the image as an Assumption, and indeed Santa María de la Antigua's feast day is on the Feast of the Assumption, August 15. But Assumptions do not feature the Christ Child, and the composition gives no sense that the Virgin is ascending.

At left, a copy of the Seville image, displayed in Santa María della Luce, a church in Rome that serves that city's Hispanic population.

Read more about images of portraits of the Virgin Mary.

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Photographed at the church by Richard Stracke, shared under Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike license.