Our Lady of Soto

Santuario-monasterio del valle de Toranzo · Iruz (Cantabria)

In Iruz, in the Toranzo valley, an ancient Franciscan monastery keeps Our Lady of the Soto, a picture of the 13th century whose devotion "transcends the limits of the valley."

Origin and history

The Monasterio--shrine of Our Lady of the Soto is a Franciscan foundation of the Toranzo Valley, built mainly between the 16th and 17th centuries on an earlier Gothic temple: at the end of the 16th the interior body, the cover and the octagonal tower are built, and in the 17th the church - the work of the architect Juan de Naveda - and the double-height cloister. Some heritage sources relate the origin of the place to an old hospital in 734, which should be handled with caution.

The image of the patron belongs to the 13th century, in medieval style, and its feast is held on August 5. His devotion "goes beyond the limits of the Toranzo valley," being a marian reference to the region. Restored, the whole works today as a diocesan House of Reception and Spirituality of the diocese of Santander.

Formal canonical patronage and canonical coronation: not recorded in the sources.