Our Lady of Valverde

Patrona de Fuencarral (Madrid) · crowned in 1992

On the old road to Colmenar, a sanctuary that was Dominican convent guards Our Lady of Valverde, patron of Fuencarral; Philip II brought his image to Madrid in 1588 to implore the success of the Navy.

Origin and history

Tradition states that the image was already venerated before the Muslim invasion of 712 and that the Virgin appeared on April 25, 1242 on a retama, then sprout a source that was miraculous. The documented history places devotion at least since the 16th century, when around the primitive hermitage a Dominican monastery and a house-palace were built. In 1595 the council and the neighbors of Fuencarral offered Philip II the patronage of the hermitage.

The devotion reached great splendor with the House of Austria and the first Bourbons; in 1588 Philip II brought the image to Madrid to implore the Navy's success against England. The original size disappeared in July 1936. Patrona de Fuencarral, was canonically crowned on 21 November 1992 by Cardinal Suchia; the whole is Good of Cultural Interest (2021) and diocesan sanctuary since 2012, and retains a chapel of the Virgin of the Rosary of the 18th century.