Our Lady of the Rosary

Marian Advocation of Agüimes (Gran Canaria)

Our Lady of the Rosary is an apvocation with historical weight in the Villa de Agüimesin Gran Canaria, linked to the parish of San Sebastián and to the historic co-fradia and hermitage of the Rosario of the town.

Main data

Origin and history

Our Lady of the Rosary is an apvocation with historical weight in the Villa de Agüimesin Gran Canaria, linked to the parish of San Sebastián and to the historic co-fradia and hermitage of the Rosario of the town.

There is no account of the apparition: it is a liturgical and cofradial advocation, directly linked to the Rosary prayer. It would be part of the general spread of the veneration of the Rosary in the Canary Islands, which is intensified after the batalla de Lepanto (1571) and with the extension of the Rosary's cofradies during the 16th and 17th centuries.

The image and the sanctuary

The advocation is linked to the parish of San Sebastián of Agüimes and, historically, to a hermitage and co-fradia of the Rosary in the villa. The concrete description of the image of the Rosary and its chapel no consta with precision in the sources consulted.

Sponsorship and coronation

Although the advocation of the Rosary has historical weight in Agüimes, the main patron of the municipality is San Sebastián, not the Virgin of the Rosary. A canonical coronation of this image no consta in the sources consulted.

Party and devotion

The liturgical memory of Our Lady of the Rosary is the 7 October. In many locations it is moved to the nearest Sunday; the exact local date of Agüimes no consta in the sources consulted. The co-fradies of the Rosary used to organize night processions and public prayers of the Rosary in the villages, documented practices in the Canary Islands at general level, although a specific and verifiable local account for Agüimes no consta in accessible sources.

Link to the Rosary

The link is total and constitutive: it is an advocation strictly linked to the prayer of the Rosaryand sustained by the co-fradies of the Rosary and the corresponding liturgical acts. To honor this Virgin is simply to pray the Rosary, the prayer that gave rise to her title and to her veneration.