Inle He is the Doctor of the Ocha, the most beautiful Orisha of the Yoruba pantheon. It is androgynous, it can have feminine and masculine characteristics and in its figure, it symbolizes fishing and gathering.
Who is Inle in Santeria?
He is known as the Orisha of the extractive economy and is the patron of doctors, fish and owner of the river. It is the personification of the earth, so it lives in it and also in the water.
Inle is an older Orisha for his immense powers as a doctor of the Ocha, considered a healer, hunter and fisherman.
His name is Inle Ayayá and he is a warrior in the sea and on land, he is represented in nature by fish. He is owed immense devotion to his role as a healer and representative of economic growth.
He is a companion of the Goddess of Love, ochunIt is said that they married and even had a child. She was also a couple of the Goddess of the Seas, Yemaya, and carries in itself, details of both.
As Doctor of the Ocha, Inle represents the health that is received to ward off diseases and he is used for that purpose. He is a provider of human sustenance and a guide for walkers.
Its name comes from the Yorùbá Erìnlè which means "The food that the earth gives" and he is the son of obbatala and Yembó. Its main tool consists of a lead base from which comes out a T of silver or silver material, which has two snakes coiled and at whose ends a fish hangs on one side and an arrow or harpoon on the other.
Inle syncretism
Due to the slave trade, the Africans brought to America had to hide their religion and for this they syncretized the Orishas in the figure of saints of the Catholic religion.
Saints that are related like the orisha with the healing of diseases and health. For this reason, Inle syncretizes with:
- Saint Raphael the Archangel
- San Roque
Saint Raphael the Archangel, the one who heals
Saint Raphael the Archangel He is one of the three archangels known by name within Catholic and Orthodox Christianity. The other two archangels are Michael and Gabriel.
His name comes from the Hebrew: Rafa-El, which means 'God heals' or 'God He has healed' or 'heal, He!' or 'God's medicine', which is why he is known as the healing angel.
He is one of the three military saints of the heavenly court and his story is referred to in the Old Testament Book of Tobias. He was sent to answer Tobias and Sara's prayers.
For The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Raphael is considered an angel of the Lord who, along with other angels such as Gabriel and Michael, participated in the Restoration of the gospel.
Many indicate that the Archangel Raphael is the patron of Córdoba, although they are really the martyrs Acisclo and Victoria. But we must mention that San Rafael is the custodian of that city, since since the Middle Ages that territory was entrusted to his care in the face of a plague epidemic.
The legends also tell that thanks to him the relics of the Holy Cordovan Martyrs were found, whose urn is kept in the Minor Basilica of San Pedro in the capital. They say that the same archangel Saint Raphael authenticated them. Thus, the Provincial Council of Toledo on January 22, 1583 declared them authentic.
The Archangel San Rafael, is also and together with the Blessed Virgin of the Rosary, Patron of the Albacete city of Hellín.
The devotion to the three archangels is immense in the religious faith of all Catholics, for which there are many devotees of the world who entrust themselves to the sacred protection of Saint Raphael the Archangel.
Archangel San Rafael, the prayer to ward off evils, enemies, envies and diseases
He is asked for health and for the end of diseases. We offer below a prayer to pray to Saint Raphael the Archangel:
Most glorious prince Saint Raphael, sweetest torch of the eternal palaces, leader of the armies of the Almighty, emissary of divinity, organ of his providences, executor of his orders, secretary of his arcana, universal resource of all the children of Adam, friend of your devotees, companion of walkers, teacher of virtue, protector of chastity, aid to the afflicted, doctor of the sick, aid of the persecuted, scourge of demons, very rich treasure of God's wealth ...
You are a holy angel, one of those seven most noble spirits that surround the throne of the most high.
Confident in the great love that you have shown to men, we humbly beg you to defend us from the snares and temptations of the devil in all the steps and stations of our life, to remove from us the dangers of the soul and body, putting a brake on our delinquent passions. and to the enemies who tyrannize us, who demolish everywhere and mainly in the Catholic world the cruel monster of heresies and incredulity that tries to devour us.
We also ask you with all the fervor of our spirit, make the Holy Gospel expand and spread more, with the practice of morality. May you assist the Roman Pontiff and the other pastors, and grant unity in the truth to the Christian authorities and magistrates.
Finally, we beg you to reach us from the throne of God - whom you assist so immediately - the inestimable gift of grace, so that through it we may one day be your perpetual companions in glory.
Amen
San Roque, Holy protector against the plague and all kinds of epidemics
San Roque He is considered the Holy protector against the plague and all kinds of epidemics, he is also the protector of pilgrims, nurses, surgeons, among others.
Needless to say, in these times when a pandemic is hitting the world, millions of people request through prayers his divine intervention to end the disease.
Of San Roque it is said, he was the owner of a considerable fortune, but he remembered the advice of Jesus Christ:
"If you want to be perfect, give your goods to the poor and follow me."
And so he distributed his goods among the needy.
Then he dressed as a pilgrim and set out for Rome. He toured Italy and dedicated himself to curing all those infected with the plague. People thanked him and legend already said that San Roque worked miracles.
From Venice his cult spread reaching the Germanic world and the Netherlands. It was precisely in Venice that a brotherhood was founded in his honor, which was dedicated to hosting plague patients and was known as the Confraternista or Scuole de San Rocco.
San Roque is the patron saint of the city of Callosa de Segura in Alicante. There the legend says that he miraculously cured a shepherd, so they built a hermitage for him.
In this city, an immense celebration was celebrated in 2009, the VI Centenary of the Glorious Apparition of San Roque.
In Mexico, specifically in Guadalajara, the annual burning of a boto in honor of the saint is carried out at midnight on August 15, while in Asturias, España, a Festival of National Tourist Interest is celebrated that includes a great procession with the image of San Roque and a folk festival.
In the Spanish Coruña, all the festivities revolve around August 16 and the figure of San Roque and thus in many cities of that European nation, of which it is the patron.
Prayer of San Roque to ward off diseases
To San Roque, we pray for the cure and for the end of the disease. Here is a prayer to pray to him:
Precious confessor of Christ, glorious Saint Roch, another David of the law of grace through meekness and uprightness of heart; new Tobías in his most tender affection for the poor and his constancy in exercising works of mercy; like another Job, a marvelous prodigy of patience and strength in the pains and labors with which Heaven tested you:
How glad I am that in this proud, sensual and ambitious world, You appear so poor, humble and mortified, distributing Your most opulent patrimony to the poor, and begging for bread to Rome in pilgrim costume!
And as if nothing were neither the sores and pains, nor the hunger that afflicts you, nor the abandonment in which you see yourself, until sometimes you have no other resource or shelter than the bread that heaven sends you through a prodigious dog; as if nothing were yet to see you locked up in a horrible dungeon for five whole years by your same uncle, who, without knowing you, treats you as a spy; you give yourself generously to the rigors of the most amazing penance.
Oh! How much it condemns your penitent, poor and humble life, the pride, ambition and sensuality of mine! Ah! No wonder you are visited with unspeakable favors and heavenly graces, while I am punished by divine Justice, with reason irritated by my vices and sins.
But flatten it, sweet Patron and plague advocate. You who freed Rome, Plasencia and so many other cities from this devastating scourge, free me too and free this city from you that puts all its trust in you.
Fulfill in us the sweet promise that Heaven left written on that mysterious tablet that appeared on your glorious corpse: "Those who, touched by the plague, invoke my servant Roque, will be freed by his intercession from this cruel disease."
(Ask the Saint for the grace you want, and then pray five Our Fathers, Ave Marías and Gloria Patri in memory of the five years he was imprisoned.)
Herbs, fruits and flowers of the Orishas
Beautiful Prayer to invoke Inle, the divine Physician of the Yoruba Pantheon
