Our Lady of Alharilla

Porcilla Pattern (Jaén)

In the village of Alharilla, next to Porcilla, a sanctuary gathers every second Sunday of May more than thirty thousand rosemary around the patron of the city and "Mother of hope."

Origin and history

The tradition places the origin of devotion in an apparition or finding of the image in the village of Alhara - Arab toponym -, about four kilometres from Porcra, where the hermitage was built; it is transmitted as a pious legend. The sources document that since the 15th century there is a pilgrimage in honor of the Virgin of Alharilla, of a strong regional character.

Our Lady of Alharilla is patron of Porcra, with a canonically crowned image. His rosemary, on the second Sunday of May, brings together more than 30,000 rosemary in the plains of the sanctuary, with cavalists, Amazons, carrozas and cofradies affiliated to neighbouring villages such as Arjona, Arjonilla, Escuela and Lopera; the Matrix Brotherhood calls it "Mother of Hope."

Year of canonical coronation: it is not safe in the sources.