Beautiful Virgin of Hope in Vatican for Christmas

A nearly five-foot, wooden image of Our Lady of Hope is adorning St. Peter’s Basilica this Christmas Season. Holding the Baby Jesus and a large anchor, this Marian image calls to mind hope as portrayed in the Book of Hebrews.

An anchor is a traditional sign of hope, alluding to Hebrews 6:19-20.

We have this hope, a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters the inner shrine behind the curtain, where Jesus, a forerunner on our behalf, has entered …

Pope Francis was particularly moved by the image of hope as an anchor, and he spoke about it many, many times during his pontificate.

In opening a holy door at a Roman prison last year, he said:

I like to think of hope as the anchor that is on the shore and we with the rope stay there, secure, because our hope is like the anchor on dry land (cf. Heb 6:17-20). Do not lose hope. This is the message I want to give you; to everyone, to all of us. Myself first. Everyone. 

Do not lose hope. Hope never disappoints. Never. Sometimes the rope is hard and it hurts our hands … but with the rope, always with the rope in hand, looking at the shore, the anchor carries us forward. Always there is something good, always there is something that keeps us going.

The image of Our Lady of Hope is from the parish of St. Mark the Evangelist in southern Italy’s province of Salerno. The image of Our Lady of Hope was made by the Stuflesser Workshop in 1954 to commemorate the Marian Year proclaimed by Pope Pius XII; the image was restored for this year’s Jubilee.

According to Vatican News, the wooden image, which stands 1.45 metres tall (4.75 feet), enjoys deep devotion among the 1,300 local residents, as well as the many tourists who fill the hamlet of San Marco during the summer.

The feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Hope is celebrated on the last Sunday of August and is the only Marian feast dedicated to Our Lady of Hope in the Diocese of Vallo della Lucania. A procession on her feast day concludes at the port, where fishermen entrust themselves to her.