Sanctuary of Our Lady of Latas
Between the villages of Loredo and Somo, in the Cantabrian municipality of Ribamontán al Mar, the sanctuary of Our Lady of Latas is raised, one of the oldest Marian centers in Cantabria: the advocation consists of medieval documentation and the present temple, from the 16th century, was raised on the remains of a very earlier monastery. His Virgin, a gothic size sedated with the Child in arms, is the patron of the municipality and of the entire region of Trasmiera.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- Medieval documentation attests to the antiquity of the place: Santa María de Latas is cited in altomedieval documents, with reference to the year 1068, and some sources go back to the VIII- IX centuries.
- The present temple, from the 16th century and renovated in the 17th and 18th centuries, has a Latin cross plant, a vault of a starry cross with tercelets, a baroque altarpiece of the first quarter of the 17th century and a characteristic ochavada tower topped in conical capitals; in the 17th century it was dependent on the hieronyms of the monastery of Santa Catalina de Monte Corbán, which remained here until the decriminalization of the 19th century.
- The image of the Virgin of Latas is a small Gothic size of stew, sedent wood and with the Child in arms, with a sweet face and a smile in it; the sanctuary also retains an old book where the graces and miracles attributed to the Virgin were recorded.
- The Romeria of 8 September is the great feast of Ribamontán al Mar and one of the most popular of Trasmiera: carrots of all the localities converge towards the sanctuary, there is a major mass sung with picayos dances, the image travels the municipality on the "night of the torches" of 7 and 8, and there is also a maritime procession through the bay to Santander.
Our Lady of Latas
On the coast of Trasmiera, between Somo and Loredo, the Virgin of Latas brings together every 8 September a whole municipality around a sanctuary whose documentary memory sinks into the Middle Ages. The small Gothic size of Santa Maria, venerated by generations of sailors and laborers, continues to chair one of the most beloved romaneries in Cantabria.
"Our Lady of Latas, Mother of the peoples of Trasmiera, pray for us.
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