Our Lady of San Lorenzo

Patrona and Mayor Perpetua de Valladolid

Patrona de Valladolid, the Virgin of San Lorenzo is a Gothic size venerated since ancient as a protector of the city in front of the Pisuerga floods; it was crowned in the Plaza Mayor in 1917.

Origin and history

The image is a Gothic size of the Virgin with the Child, dating in the second half of the 14th century. Since the 17th century she has been invoked as the patron of Valladolid, with public pleas and vows; the City Council officially recognized her patronage in 1812 and Pope Benedict XV declared her the patron of the city in 1916. It was canonically crowned on 21 October 1917 in the Plaza Mayor, and the following year proclaimed Mayor Perpetua.

The tradition tells that the image came from Consuegra (Toledo), brought by a priest who hid it in a cave next to the Pisuerga in the face of the danger of incursions, and that a pastor found it centuries later near the Gate of the Aguators, revered first as Our Lady of the Aguators. Hence its old title and its invocation as a protector against the floods of the river; the visigode or altomedieval origin belongs to the foundational legend.