Saint Mary La Antigua is the Patron Saint of Panama, a country that today welcomes thousands of pilgrims who will participate in the 2019 World Youth Day (WYD), to be held from January 22 to 27.

The feast of Santa María la Antigua is celebrated on September 9 and her image usually represents the Virgin with the Child Jesus and a white rose.

The presence of the Patroness of Panama is central to WYD 2019, since the motto chosen by Pope Francis is deeply Marian: “Behold, I am the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your Word.”

The story goes that the Marian image was in a side chapel of the Cathedral of Seville (Spain), which was rebuilt in the 14th century, and only the wall where the image was located was preserved, which is why it was called Santa María la Antigua.

In America, in 1510, the conquistadors Vasco Núñez de Balboa and Martín Fernández de Enciso founded the city of Santa María la Antigua del Darién (in present-day Colombian territory) in honor of this devotion, becoming the first diocese on the mainland.

In 1524, the second bishop of that diocese, the Dominican friar Vicente Peraza, moved the diocesan seat to the newly founded Panama City, on the shores of the Pacific.