Tuesday, September 03, 2019

Hurricane Lady (St. Augustine Report, by former Mayor George Gardner)







Hurricane Lady
    It is told that a sea captain in the early 1800s was near Florida on a cargo ship from Spain. A storm arose so the captain started throwing things overboard to lighten his load.
   A crew member said there was a Madonna in the hold of the ship. No one on board remembered seeing it loaded and it didn't have any tag on it. 
   The captain his crew offered the following prayer, "Dear Lady, if you will get us safely into port, we will place your statue with the first Christian family we meet." 
   The winds subsided and the ship limped into the St. Augustine port.
   The statue was passed down through St. Augustine families to where it current resides, in the O'Reilly House Museum of the Sisters of St. Joseph.

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