Our Lady of the Hour of Mosul (Iraq)

Marian devotion

Where is he?

Our Lady of the Hour is the church of the Dominican convent of Mosul, popularly known as the Latin Church. It is located in the southern sector of the Old City, in the governorate of Nineveh, Iraq. The whole belongs to the history of the Dominican mission in Mesopotamia and is different from the Al- Tahira churches of Mosul.

The research report does not provide an unequivocal coordination of the building in the mapping consultation used. That's why the map uses 36.3416, 43.1291, a location reference for Mosul, with precision locality. It does not appear as the inner GPS of the church, the tower or the Grotto of Lourdes that was in the enclosure.

Documented history

The French Ministère de la Cultura documents that the Dominicans of the mission of Mesopotamia, Kurdistan and Armenia were present in Mosul since 1750. The first Dominican church was built by Italians; between 1866 and 1873 a large Latin church was erected in the same place, the work of the Dominicans of the province of France. The temple has three ships and five transept, and was built in Roman-Byzantine style.

The tower is a central part of the history of the building. Empress Eugenia de Montijo, wife of Napoleon III, provided in 1880 the money to build the bell tower, and the four-sided watch was installed in 1881. The heritage source presents it as the first bell tower in Iraq and explains that it allowed to know the time from many parts of the city. This urban importance does not make the tower an apparition or a miracle.

The monastic set was restored in the 2000's and then looted and damaged during the occupation of Mosul by Dáesh between 2014 and 2017. The source describes the theft even of the spheres and the mechanism of the clock. The church was injured, but its material history remains legible as part of Mosul's Christian heritage.

History of mission and tradition

The Dominican presence was not just liturgical. In the complex there was a printing plant: the heritage source has been a lithographic press since 1857 and a modern printing plant since 1860, with publications in Arabic, French and Syriac. Among the above works is a Bible in Iraqi Arabic and texts in Syriac. The printing was destroyed by the Ottomans in 1915, within the violence of World War I.

In the courtyard there was a reproduction of the Grotto de Lourdes with an image of the Virgin, according to the research report. There is no local apparition associated with Our Lady of the Hour. The presence of a documented image or devotional grotto should not be presented as an approval of a supernatural phenomenon.

Legend and limits of the record

The Paleocrist tradition of Mosul relates some temples to houses where they are said to have been apostles. This tradition belongs to the religious memory of the city, not to an archaeological test of each identification. For this church no miraculous scene is added and no fact is attributed to the Virgin that sources do not document.

Ecclesial State

The state indicated is veneration _ permitted, because the heritage source documents a Dominican Latin church and its ecclesial use. The label describes the public worship of the temple; it does not affirm an approved apparition, an authentic relic or a miracle. There is no specific supernatural judgment associated with Our Lady of the Hour.

Anecdotes and stories

The watch explains why this church was known beyond its immediate community. Its function was daily: to give the time to the inhabitants of Mosul. The press, for its part, made the convent a place of cultural production in several languages. Both stories show a Christian presence linked to education, communication and urban life, as well as prayer.

The looting suffered during the occupation of Dáesh recalls that religious heritage can also be the target of violence. This data is preserved without making it an invented moral: the source documents it as part of the recent history of the building.

Prayer

Holy Mary, Mother of the Church, intercedes before the Lord for the Christians of Mosul, for the Dominicans and for those who work for peace in Iraq. Take us to Jesus Christ and help us to protect the memory, truth and dignity of each community. Amen.

Sources

• Ministère de la Culture, Christian buildings in Mosul (HTTP 200).
• Mesopotamia Heritage, historical context of the Christian buildings of Mosul (HTTP 200).
• OpenStreetMap mapping for Our Lady of the Hour, Mosul (HTTP 200); location accuracy.