Nostra Senyora de Gràcia

Puig de Randa, Mallorca · the sanctuary under the rock

Covered under the huge rocky visor of the Penya Falconera, in the Puig de Randa, the sanctuary of Nostra Senyora de Gràcia is one of the most overwhelming corners of Mallorca; it was born of an erectic cave and shape, with Cura and Sant Honorat, the "mountain of the three sanctuaries."

Origin and history

The sanctuary has its origin in the cave of s'Aresta, where in the mid-15th century two Franciscan friars were established that were conditioning it as an hermitage, within the spirituality of the retreat of the Puig de Randa. The devotion was consolidated at the end of the 15th century, when, in the face of a plague that ravaged Llucmajor, the people invoked the help of Our Lady of Grace; since then the place became a center of pilgrimage. In the 18th century the present church was raised, which integrates part of the rock into its structure, moving from the simple rock hermitage to a wider set.

The sanctuary is part of the history of the "Mount of the Three Sanctuaries" - Cura, Gràcia and Sant Honorat - which made Randa a great pole of Marian and Lulian spirituality in Mallorca. Its location "under the rock," covered by the great balm of the Penya Falconera, gives it a unique character of refuge, silence and contemplation, which strengthens the people's confidence in the protection of the Mare de Déu de Gràcia. It belongs to Llucmajor, although the village of Randa is part of Algaida.

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