Our Lady of Candelaria

Patrona de Canarias

Our Lady of Candelaria es la patrona de Canarias and the Marian invocation of the greatest roots of the entire archipelago. Its sanctuary rises in the villa of Candelariaon the island of Tenerifeon the Atlantic.

Main data

Origin and history

Our Lady of Candelaria es la patrona de Canarias and the Marian invocation of the greatest roots of the entire archipelago. Its sanctuary rises in the villa of Candelariaon the island of Tenerifeon the Atlantic.

According to the tradition, over the years 1392-1400 - almost a century before the conquest of Tenerife - two shepherds Guanches They found an image of the Virgin with the Child on the shore of the sea at the mouth of the Chimisay ravine, in the old menceyate of Güímar. The pious story refers that one of them, called after Antón GuancheHe recognized in her the Mother of God, and that the image was first venerated in the cave of Chinguaro and later on Achbinico (San Blas), considered the first Marian shrine of the Canary Islands. This story was written by the Dominican Fray Alonso de Espinosa in 1594; should be understood as devotional tradition, not as a historically documented fact in its detail.

As for the documented history, after the conquest (1496) already has 1497 the celebration of the Festival of Candelas. The sanctuary was extended over the centuries (temple of 1526; major church in the 17th century; fire of 1789). In 1826 a temporary dragged the original medieval image to the sea. The basílica actual se concluyó en 1959 and was elevated to minor basilica by Benedict XVI at 2011. The sanctuary is entrusted to the Order of Preachers (Dominics).

The image and the sanctuary

La original image was a medieval Gothic Marian size, missing in the temporal de 1826. The image that is being venerated today is a work Neoclassical sculptor Fernando Estévez (about 1827-1830). It is kept in the Basilica of Our Lady of Candelaria, great island and diocesan sanctuary, in front of the square that looks at the ocean, guarded by the Dominicans. No constan official inflow figures, but the place is the main pilgrimage center of the Canary Islands.

Sponsorship and coronation

The Virgin of Candelaria is patron of the Canary Islands, declared such by the Pope Clemente VIII and 1599 and confirmed as patrona principal por Pío IX en 1867. It's also patron of the Nivarian diocese of Tenerife. Su canonical coronation took place on 13 October 1889, authorized by Pope Leo XIII; it was one of the first patron images of a Spanish region to receive this honor.

Party and devotion

Se celebra el 2 February, party of the Candelaria (Presentation of the Lord and Purification of Mary), from which he takes his name by the candles or candles; and August 15with a massive island pilgrimage. Every year, thousands of pilgrims walk through the roads of Tenerife to the basilica, in one of the most crowded romaneries in Spain. On the eve of August 15, the meeting of the Guanches with the Virgin is held.

Link to the Rosary

The link with the Rosary is narrow and visible: the sanctuary is entrusted from ancient to Order of Preachers (Dominics)the order that the Rosary prayer spread throughout the world, and the basilica itself is adorned with Dominican angels carrying rosaries. To come to the patron saint of the Canary Islands is thus to join the prayer of the Rosary that the Dominicans have guarded in this sanctuary for centuries.