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The first Franciscan community settled in the Santa Ana area, in 1528. The reflection of the Lady of Itatí appeared three times under a rock along a river of the Paraná Basin, which led the Franciscan settlers to build a statue dedicated to the Lady of Itatí in 1589.
Then, the Jesuit missionary Luis Bolaños and the natives he had converted were saved from an Indian attack thanks to the intervention of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Franciscans and Indians agreed on a place for the Virgin, and created the new city Pueblo de Indios de la Pura y Limpia concepción de Nuestra Señora de Itatí
A proper shrine was built to Our Lady of Itati and soon a miracle, repeated several times, surrounded the image of Our Lady: the transformations or transfigurations of her face.
The first such transformation took place on Holy Saturday 1624. Father Gamarra, the priest who celebrated mass on that day, testified: the Virgin's face looked more beautifully radiant than ever, as the priest intoned the antiphon "Regina Coeli". The father then called in the village Indians, and they all experienced the same dazzling effect: the phenomenon lasted until the Thursday after Easter, when the face returned to its normal appearance. There were at least 60 other testimonies of these dazzling transformations of the face of the Virgin of Itati, attested by witnesses and recorded in the annals of the sanctuary.
Our Lady of Itati was crowned on July 16, 1900, by special permission from Pope Leo XIII. And in 1910, Our Lady of Itati became the patron saint of the newly-created diocese of Corrientes. Today, Itati has a magnificent basilica, built in 1938. Poor pilgrims from far and wide flock there, often on foot, filially and simply devoted to the Mother of Heaven. The feast of Our Lady of Itati is celebrated on July 9.