Our Lady of Divine Providence is a Marian devotion of the Catholic Church that originated in Italy in the  13th century . Today, she is highly venerated in Puerto Rico . In fact, she is the patron saint of the Commonwealth of the United States. Her image is found in a chapel in the Metropolitan Cathedral of San Juan in the Puerto Rican capital.

When the Catalan Gil Esteve y Tomás was appointed bishop of Puerto Rico , he brought with him to Puerto Rico this devotion that he had learned during his years as a seminarian. This prelate had to put his entire diocese in the hands of Divine Providence, since he found the cathedral practically in ruins and the economy of the diocese in worse condition. The bishop’s trust and his work quickly bore fruit and before five years had passed he had already been able to rebuild the cathedral temple, in which the cult and devotion to the Virgin of Providence was established.

The original image venerated by the Servants of Mary and other Italian religious orders is an oil painting of the Virgin with the Divine Child sleeping peacefully in her arms. The title ” of Divine Providence ” is due to Saint Philip Benicio , fifth superior of the Servants of Mary, who, upon invoking the protection of the Virgin on a day when his friars had no food, found two baskets full of food at the door of the convent, but whose origin was unknown.

The image commissioned by Don Gil Esteve was carved in Barcelona ( Spain ) according to the taste of the time. It is a seated image, “in robes” (that is, made to be dressed), and was displayed for worship in the cathedral for 67 years, until 1920 when it was replaced by another carving, all of wood, which is the image of Our Lady of Divine Providence most familiar and well-known by Puerto Rican communities.

Mary leans over the Child, who sleeps peacefully on her lap in an attitude of total trust. The Virgin’s hands are joined in prayer as she gently holds the Divine Infant’s left hand.

Pope Paul VI declared Our Lady of Divine Providence as the principal patroness of the island of Puerto Rico through a decree signed on November 19, 1969. That document also decreed that the solemnity of the Virgin should be moved from January 2, the anniversary of her arrival on the island, to November 19, the day the island of Borinquén was discovered . In this way, the two great affections of Puerto Ricans were united; the love for their beautiful island and the love for the Mother of God.

The oldest sculpture, dating from 1853, was chosen to be solemnly crowned during the meeting of the Latin American Episcopal Council held in San Juan, Puerto Rico on November 5, 1976. The day before the event, this image was vilely burned in the Parish of Santa Teresita de Santurce . This image of Divine Providence was restored in 2009 in Seville ( Spain ), when the 25th anniversary of the papal visit to Puerto Rico was commemorated. On August 22, 2012, this image was canonically crowned again and since January 2, 2018, it is venerated again in the Cathedral of San Juan. This figure of the Virgin will eventually be transferred to the National Shrine of Our Lady Mother of Divine Providence, which is currently being built in the Cupey Alto neighborhood in San Juan.