San Francisco de Cuapa

San Francisco de Cuapa is a municipality in the Chontales department of Nicaragua. This municipality was created July 30 1997and is located in the northeast section of Chontales. Before that date, the town was part of the municipality of Juigalpa. Its area is about 277 km². The principal business activity is the cattle and agriculture. 99% of the population is Catholic. The first mayor was Manuel Antonio Zelaya Meneses and the vice-mayor was Oscar Velasquez Gonzalez. They were elected in 1997.

Reported Apparition of the Virgin Mary

In 1980, Bernardo Martinez, sacristan, claimed to have a series of visions of the Virgin Mary. According to Bernardo, this began on April 15th when he saw a strange light emanating from a statue of the Virgin Mary in the parish church. In May, when walking through the fields, he claimed that he saw a vision of the Virgin Mary, who encouraged him to pray the rosary and promote peace saying: "Make Peace. Don't ask Our Lord for peace because, if you do not make it, there will be no peace." [Miriam and Stephen Weglian, "Let Heaven and Earth Unite", page 24, Faith Publishing Company, Milford Ohio, 1996]

At this time, Nicaragua was going through a civil war. The Sandinista government was facing armed opposition from the Contras. Bernardo Martinez claimed that the Virgin Mary ordered him to burn bad books, which was interpreted to mean Marxist books. The auxiliary Bishop of Managua complied with this request. Sandinista commentators responded by describing the apparition as 'St. Mary of the Contras' and 'Our Lady of Oliver North'. [ [http://www.envio.org.ni/articulo/3184 "Nicaragua Church-State Relations A Chronology - Part II"] ]

On November 13th 1982, the Bishop of Juigalpa released an official statement as Bishop of the area where the apparitions took place assuring the faithful of the authenticity of the events. The apparitions at San Francisco de Cuapa are thus among the few Marian apparitions approved by the Catholic Church in the twentieth century. [ [http://www.miraclehunter.com/marian_apparitions/statements/index.html#cuapa Miracle Hunter web-site] ]

In 2005, Silvio Sirias wrote a novel, "Bernardo and the Virgin" based on these events. [Silvio Sirias, Bernardo and the Virgin, Northwestern University Press, 2005 ISBN 978-0810124271]

Piedra de Cuapa

The Piedra de Cuapa (Rock of Cuapa) or Monolito de Cuapa (Monolith of Cuapa) is a prominent landmark in San Francisco de Cuapa. According to a Nicaraguan folk-tale, it is inhabited by a duende, [ [http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2007/marzo/03/suplementos/prensaliteraria/leyendas/leyendas-20070302-2.shtml El Duende de la Piedra de Cuapa] , La Prensa Literaria, supplement to La Prensa: El Diario de los Nicaraguenses, March 2003] or perhaps a whole family of duendes. [ [http://www.manfut.org/leyendas/duendes.html Cuentos y Legendos de Nicaragua: Los Duendes] ,] According to the legend, a duende fell in love with a young woman named Flor, and stole her family's donkey, which they placed on top of the Piedra. Eventually, the family was able to defeat the duendes by playing loud music.

Other local folklore includes a tree that is said to shed tears from its branches at midnight, and the legend that any man who bathes in a particular place will marry a woman from the area and never leave. [ [http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/43/Nicaragua_Cuapa.html 'Memories of Cuapa'] , Escape From America Magazine, February 2003 ]

References

External links

* [http://www-ni.laprensa.com.ni/archivo/2007/marzo/03/suplementos/prensaliteraria/leyendas/leyendas-20070302-2.shtml El Duende de la Piedra de Cuapa] Article about La Piedra from supplement to La Prensa, Spanish language.
* [http://www.memorare.com/mary/app1980.html Marian Apparitions: Cuapa] Site devoted to Marian apparitions, includes English translation of Bernardo Martinez' account of his visions.