According to tradition, this image of Christ was made by Michelangelo for an English family, which sent it with other images to America in 1568 to save it from the Protestants. After the ship reached Lima and was battered by a storm, the crew threw cargo overboard, including the box containing the image. Franciscan priests later recovered the box, believed the contents were damaged, and left it in a warehouse for 2 years. A priest from Ica, having gone to Lima to buy images, chose the moisture-damaged box without seeing what was inside and sent it by ship to Pisco and then by mule to Ica. Along the way, the mule carrying the cargo was lost and reappeared 15 days later at Villa de Valverde, where it could not be moved. On February 25 1570, local residents unloaded the box and found the image of Christ intact. They understood this to mean that Christ had chosen to remain there, and a church was built for the image. In 1918, a fire damaged the church and part of the image, but the people restored it and built a new church. The image of Señor de Luren, regarded as one of Peru's oldest advocacies from colonial times, is attributed with many miracles, and people seek its grace by passing a piece of cotton over its body; it remains the patron saint of the city of Ica and of Peru.
