Deu Mare de Bonany

Petra, Mallorca · the sanctuary of the "good year" and of Fray Junípero Serra

At the top of the Puig de Bonany, over Petra, a sanctuary born in times of drought guards the Mare de Déu de Bonany - that of the "good year" -; at his feet Fray Junípero Serra delivered his last sermon in Mallorca before leaving for the California missions.

Origin and history

The tradition places the origin of the sanctuary in a Marian image found and in the response to a severe drought: when the crops were recovered, people spoke of the "bon any" (good year), a name that was left in the advocation. The rector of Petra, mossèn Miquel Vicens, promoted a small prayer in honor of that image in the early 17th century; the local sources vary between 1600 and 1609 for the story, which shows the fluidity of tradition. The present church is a reconstruction of 1920-1925, raised over the previous Baroque temple, demolished in 1919; in its cambril a size of polychrome wood is venerated.

The devotion is very linked to the popular pilgrimage and the "pancaritat" on Easter Tuesday, when the neighbors of Petra, Vilafranca de Bonany, Sant Joan and other populations go up to the puig. A bewildering memory of the place is the link with Fray Junípero Serra, a natural of Petra: on the climb route a stone cross recalls the last sermon the missionary preached in Mallorca before leaving for America, where he would base the missions of California. The sanctuary is today a place of prayer and a lookout over the Mallorcan plain.

Own liturgical feast, formal patronage and canonical coronation: they are not recorded in the sources.