Guardian of the Faith Virgin Sanctuary

The construction of the Marian Sanctuary “Guardian of the Faith”  was started in 1988 as a result of the apparitions of the Virgin Mary to a young woman from Cuenca Patricia Talvot, who was barely 16 years old at the time. The apparitions occurred in a short period of eighteen months. They began on August 28, 1988 and continued until March 3, 1990. In total, more than one hundred apparitions were recorded, of which twenty-four occurred in Pachi's room, four in Mexico, and eighteen in chapels in Quito, Guayaquil. and Paute. Almost all of the remaining demonstrations occurred in El Cajas, a mountainous area in the Ecuadorian Andes located some 28 km from the city of Cuenca (Azuay, Ecuador). A Sanctuary decreed by the Archdiocese and dedicated in honor of the Holy Trinity and the Virgin Mary Guardian of the Faith was erected. The place is of great natural beauty, considered as the Garden of the Blessed Virgin, called her “little piece of Heaven”. It's worth the visit, even if you aren't a Catholic or a believer in these events. Also starting from this place it's possible to follow some hiking trails.