Santa María de la Villa

"La Labradora," patron of Martos (Jaén)

On the top of the old fortress of Martos, the shrine of Santa María de la Villa guards "La Labradora," a perpetual patron and mayor of the city, whose primitive image retains among its remains the memory of the fire of 1936.

Origin and history

After the conquest of Martos by Fernando III in the early 13th century, the early Church of the Villa was raised on the fortified hill, following models of the Order of Calatrava. In the 16th century the architect Francisco del Castillo raised the torre-bell tower on a cube of the wall, the only preserved element of that Renaissance phase. The sanctuary suffered serious damage at the beginning of the Civil War in 1936 and was rebuilt in a Neobaroque style in the 1940s.

The original image was a Gothic size of the 13th or early 14th century, destroyed in 1936; the calcined remains of his face are preserved inside the current image, as a relic. She is venerated as a patron of Martos and a perpetual mayor, under the nickname "La Labradora," which highlights her link to the countryside and countryside; her feast is Easter Tuesday.

Canonical coronation: not found in the sources.