Our Lady of Guide

District Sanctuary of the Valley of the Pedroches · Villanueva del Duque (Córdoba)

In a promontory of the Valley of the Pedroches, the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guide - the oldest shared Marian sanctuary of the Diocese of Córdoba - has since time immemorial gathered five peoples around her Virgin.

Origin and history

The hermit-sanctuary of Our Lady of Guide dates back to the 14th century and is described by the research as the oldest shared Marian sanctuary of the Diocese of Córdoba, which was earlier in almost two centuries than that of Our Lady of Luna. It is a joint advocation, venerated from time immemorial by Villanueva del Duque, Alcaracejos, Dos Torres, Fuente la Lancha and Hinojosa del Duque, with a unique organization of shifts and transfers of image among the peoples.

The tradition dates back the devotion to the XII-XIII centuries, linked to the Reconquist: the primitive image would have been a small bronze figure, with argollas to hang it from the mount, as a "guide virgin or lighthouse" of Christian warriors. She is a patron of Villanueva del Duque next to San Jacinto, with local Romeria around the Sunday and Monday of Easter and fair of August 15.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.