Our Lady of Lineards

Linares (Jaén) · crowned in 2004

On the outskirts of Linares, the sanctuary of Linarejos keeps the patron of the city; a devotion that tradition dates back to a 1227 apparition, year of reconquest, and culminated in the canonical coronation of the image in 2004.

Origin and history

The devotion to the Virgin of Linarejos is attested, according to the diocese of Jaén, at least since the 13th century, although the documentation preserved is later. The first hermitage was raised in the place of tradition and was destroyed by a temporary in 1258; in 1638 the old one was demolished to build a larger sanctuary, and the present Baroque-style temple, with a Latin cross plant and three ships, was set up mainly between the 17th and 18th centuries, thoroughly restored in the 1950s. The first documentary reference to a brotherhood is in the Diocesan Archive of Jaén in 1585.

The tradition, gathered in an ancient romance, tells us that on August 5, 1227 - the year of the reconquest of Linares by Fernando III - the Virgin appeared to a pastor named Juan Jiménez, who rested in the shadow of a lentif; in that place the first hermitage was raised. It is a story of popular piety, without contemporary documentation. The bishop of Jaén granted the title of patron of Linares on 6 September 1757, setting August 5 as his feast; he is also an honorary and perpetual mayor of the city. The image was canonically crowned on January 11, 2004 by the Nuncio in Spain and the Bishop of Jaén.