The statue of Our Lady of Mang Den (also known as Mother of amputated hands) located in Mang Den village, Dak Long commune, Kon Plong district, Kon Tum province, has a distance of approximately 60km from Kon Tum city in the North, if travelling by car, it will take at least 1h20′. The climate in the said place is always cool, and the temperature has never past more than 20°C and it is always foggy .
According to the records of Kon Tum diocese, the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was erected on a simple pillar at the outpost of Mang Den in mid-1971. After the war (1975), the statue was forgotten in deep forest for so many years because there was no traffic and no Christians living nearby. However, at the end of 1987, the statue of Mary lost its head, and also its hands, but the people have no idea why these things happened.
Until 2004, the status of our Lady was accidentally found by road builders who are constructing the National Highway 24. Among them, there was a Christian named Hoang who tried to restore the head and hands of Mary but after restoring her face, its no longer similar to the version of the statue of Our Lady of Fatima, bearing the appearance of women in Central Highland of Vietnam, there was unclear reason why the hands of the statue could not be restored anymore. After the restoration, the hands had fallen to the foot of the statue. Thus, Our Lady of Mang Den has a face that is very different from all the other statues with amputated hands like now a days.
On 2006, the delegation of Kon Tum diocese led by Bishop Micael Hoang Duc Oanh visited the statue. A year later, December 9, 2007, Bishop of Kon Tum officially chose this place as the pilgrimage place of the diocese. And on this day, naturally, it became the annual Pilgrimage date of Our Lady of Mang Den in the Central Highlands.
Everyday, there are many pilgrims coming from different provinces, and in other countries to visit our Lady, although this is a mountainous area with dangerous ranges and passes, with the cold weather and foggy surroundings even lack of facilities for tourists, people still continue to come and visit the unique statue of Our Lady of Mang Den.
Coming to the statue of Our Lady, just to see with eyes only, we will be very disappointed, because, the statue of Mary is not only beautiful and very different from the usual statues. But if we will look closely to the structure specially to the eyes, we will see faith!. We will associate naturally the image of Mother with the less fortunate people with disabilities, leprosy, HIV/AIDS, minorities, even our suffers and disease. Thanks to this, we will recognize the mysterious beauty of Virgin Mary and the sanctified power from the amputated hands of Our Lady of Mang Den.
Come and see the miracles!
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