Our Lady of Grace

Patrona de Maó (Menorca)

In a hermitage on an altozano, on the outskirts of Maó, it venerates the Mare de Déu de Gràcia, patron of the city, whose major feast is held every 8 September.

Origin and history

The devotion to the Mare de Déu de Gràcia is ancient and is linked to its hermitage, built between 1436 and 1491 in a small altozano about two kilometres from Maó. Traditionally, Maó's major feast was not held in September, but by San Juan, a custom documented since the 16th century; when they ceased to be held in the mid-19th century, the old devotion to the Mare de Déu de Gràcia became the central place of the major feast, setting itself from 1890 around 8 September.

He was declared patron of Maó in 1962. It is a highly festive and civic devotion, inseparable from the city's patron parties, with popular concentration around the hermitage and the events of 7 and 8 September.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.