Our Lady of the Angustias

"La Señora de Valladolid" · work by Juan de Juni

In the Penitential Church of the Angustias, Valladolid venera a "La Señora de la ciudad," an overwhelming size of Juan de Juni, popularly known as "Virgen de los Cuchillos"; heart of the Holy Week, canonically crowned in 2009.

Origin and history

The size of Our Lady of the Angustias is the work of John de Juni, one of the great teachers of the Spanish sculpture of the 16th century, made in the second half of that century, after 1561. Of the intense drama and pain contained, it represents the Virgin with the Dolores, so it is popularly called "Virgin of the Knuckles." The image is linked to the Enlightenment Penitential Brotherhood of Our Lady of the Angustias, documented before 1536 and established in the current Renaissance church of the Angustias, where it is venerated all year round.

It is one of the oldest and most emblematic images of the Holy Week of Valladolid, in whose processions of the holy days it participates, and is popularly invoked as "The Lady of Valladolid," underlining its status as an image of great citizen devotion. It was crowned canonically on 3 October 2009 in the Cathedral of Valladolid. His devotion focuses on the penitential piety and the Dolores of Mary rather than on a field pilgrimage or sanctuary.

Formal canonical patronage of the city and liturgical feast of its own: they are not recorded in the sources.