Shrine may be answer to Puerto Rico’s prayers : Thousands of pilgrims have flocked to a well credited with bringing good luck, cures. Now some believe it can become an economic miracle.

SABANA GRANDE, Puerto Rico —  Mist and low clouds routinely brush the mountain tops here, and there is something about the way sudden sunlight breaks through that suggests the flickering of a celestial spotlight. But for tens of thousands of visitors each year, what happens in this remote corner of the island is less meteorological than miraculous.

Since 1953, when three schoolchildren reported seeing a vision of the Virgin Mary floating in a well, growing numbers of pilgrims have hiked up the mountain here to draw water from the well and pray for everything from good fortune to miracle cures.

And apparently, prayers have been answered. “I know that we owe the life of our youngest daughter to the Virgin of the Well,” said Edmee Roumain, in reference to Katia, now 10, who was born with several heart defects. “This has been a transformation in our lives.”

The next transformation to take place could be the one that changes this quiet town of 22,000 people--a place well off the main tourist trails through this scenic U.S. commonwealth--into a major Christian mecca.

Where there is now a rustic chapel, a small stone well and a modest gift shop selling postcards and rosaries, a group of devotees headed by a San Juan dentist has plans to develop a virtual Virgin Mary theme park--a multimillion-dollar project that would include overnight accommodations, trams to shuttle pilgrims up the mountain and a statue of the blue-robed virgin that, at 25 stories tall, would dwarf the Statue of Liberty.

Already the group has spent $200,000 to buy 200 acres of adjacent land for what would be called Monte Mistico de Maria (Mary’s Mystical Mountain), according to Dr. Ricardo Ramos Pesquera. “This is not something we are doing to make money,” said Ramos, the dentist. “This is for the betterment of Puerto Rico, which has problems with drugs, abortion, and crime. I believe this is the answer to those problems.”

Despite the shrine’s popularity--an estimated 100,000 people turned out on May 29 to mark the 41st anniversary of the Virgin sighting--it remains controversial among Catholics. Until 1989, priests regularly said Mass at the mountain site. Then Puerto Rico’s Cardinal Luis Aponte Martinez ordered a halt to services there, and the local priest was reassigned.

In San Isidro Labrador Catholic Church, in the center of Sabana Grande, Father Hector Rivera says he advises parishioners to stay away from the site until the Vatican completes its investigation and decides whether or not to sanction the vision.

Of those Catholics who visit the shrine, Rivera said: “They are good people, people of faith. But if they follow the church, it is important that they wait.”

Many say they cannot. On a recent Tuesday afternoon Rosario Cedano brought her 2-year-old daughter, Frances, up the mountain. “She has had severe breathing problems and pneumonia and pains in her chest,” Cedano said. “She does not understand why we’re here. But I want to do everything I can to keep her healthy.”

Behind the chapel is a shed called the casa de testimonios (house of testimonials), which is chock a block with votive offerings, sent by the faithful, the evidence of miracles worked and prayers answered: crutches, casts, wedding gowns, military uniforms, school pictures, rosaries, letters, even toys.

In a separate glass display case nearby are some 40-year-old photographs of the children who say they witnessed the Virgin’s reappearance in 1953. Also in the case is the “1993 Miss Puerto Rico” sash of Dayanara Torres, inscribed “Thanks to the Virgin for granting my dream.” Torres went on to become Miss Universe.

Milagros Rivera, a volunteer docent at the shrine, said tour groups from Mexico, Spain, the Dominican Republic and many U.S. states regularly show up.

“I know there are doubters,” she said. “But so many have been helped, and so many keep coming back.”

On behalf of his Mission of Our Lady of the Well, which counts some 250,000 members, Ramos said he has made five trips to Rome to plead for the restoration of masses at the shrine. While pursuing the blessing of the church, he says plans to develop the site into a religious complex are proceeding.

“This is not an amusement park,” he said. “There will be places for reflection and prayer. And this is not for me; I don’t need more business. This is for the spiritual needs of the many.”

The town’s mayor supports the project. “This will be a great economic boom for us,” said Miguel Ortiz-Velas. “Many more people will visit here, and that will create jobs and new businesses. There are no ecological problems; the consequences are all positive. I can’t see anything against it.”

Times researcher Anna M. Virtue in Miami contributed to this story.