Our Lady of the Anjara Mountain

Marian Advocation of Anjara (Jordan)

According to the local traditionJesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the disciples would have passed through Anjara, in the mountains of Galaad, and rested in a cave during one of their journeys between the sea of Galilee, the Jordan, Jerusalem and Bethany, which explains the link of the place with the Holy Family. This memory is preserved as a pious memory and not as a historically proven fact.

Main data

Origin and history

According to the local traditionJesus Christ, the Virgin Mary and the disciples would have passed through Anjara, in the mountains of Galaad, and rested in a cave during one of their journeys between the sea of Galilee, the Jordan, Jerusalem and Bethany, which explains the link of the place with the Holy Family. This memory is preserved as a pious memory and not as a historically proven fact.

As for the documented history, the present church linked to the advocation is known as Our Lady of the Mountain (Sayyidat al-Jabal)built in the 1950s to welcome the growing Marian devotion in Anjara. On May 6, 2010, an image of the Virgin Mary venerated in this church - identified as Our Lady of the Anjara Mountain- shed tears, in part of blood, which was observed by several witnesses. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem He recognized the sanctuary as a place of pilgrimage and integrated it into a Marian sacred route in Jordan, without definitively deciding on the supernatural nature of the phenomenon, but encouraging pilgrimage and prayer in the place.

The image and the sanctuary

The main image is a statue of the Virgin Mary venerated under the title of Our Lady of the Mountain / Virgin of Anjara. This is an image of size, from Italy and more than 200 years oldaccording to the testimony of the rector of the sanctuary. It represents the Virgin with the Child Jesus in a serene, Western-style attitude, and is placed in a prominent temple shrimp, before which the faithful stop for prayer and veneration. In this same image the tears were produced, described by witnesses as clear tears and, in a moment, of blood.

The sanctuary is known as Church of Our Lady of the Mountain (Sayyidat al-Jabal)in Anjara, Jordan. The building, of Latin Catholic rite, is a simple, one-ship parish church, built in the 1950s, with an underground or grotto space that recalls the place of the alleged rest of Jesus and Mary. The Latin Patriarchate of Jerusalem presents him as a parish of Our Lady of the Visitation in Anjara, within which is the Marian sanctuary of Our Lady of the Mountain. It is not known that the temple has been raised to the rank of a minor basilica or officially designated as a national sanctuary; it is recognized, however, as sanctuary within the network of "Faith Tourism / Holy Land Jordan"and as an important Marian point in the diocese.

Sponsorship and coronation

Our Lady of the Anjara Mountain is a Marian devotion center of diocesan and national reachwho come to him faithful "from all Jordan" for the annual celebration in his honor. There is no formal decree that declares it the principal patron of a city or of the nation, but in practice it acts as a unique Marian reference for Jordanian Catholics, closely linked to the local Christian identity.

On the canonical coronation, in the sources consulted (Latin Patriarchate, official page of religious tourism of Jordan, chronicles of the feast and Catholic press) there is no mention of a pontifical or diocesan coronation with a documented decree. Therefore, does not contain a documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

The fiesta principal de Our Lady of the Anjara Mountain is held each year around the spring; recent chronicles place the annual celebration of the feast in the month of Maywith special solemnity and great participation of the faithful. This feast "has been held 24 years ago" (counting from the early 2000's) and "transcends the confines of parish jurisdiction; people from all over Jordan, as well as from other countries, come to it," which indicates a wide-ranging Marian pilgrimage.

Devotion is fed by various practices: pilgrimages to the sanctuary, procession with the image, solemn celebration of the Eucharist and intense moments of prayer for peace in the region and for families. The sanctuary is integrated into the path of biblical and Marian pilgrimage organized by the ecclesial and civil authorities, who present it as a place of encounter with Christ through Mary in the mountains of Galaad. Since the 2010 tearful event, the influx of pilgrims has increased significantly, making Anjara one of Jordan's most visited Marian places. There are no precise official figures of influx.

Link to the Rosary

The sources consulted do not mention a specific and own relationship of this advocation with the prayer of the Rosary, beyond the usual practices of Marian prayer in the sanctuary. For example, there is no place-specific fellowship of the Rosary or an official title linked to the mysteries of the Rosary.

However, by the nature of the sanctuary - linked to the memory of the passage of Jesus and Mary through the mountains of Galaad and to the intercession of the Virgin in the midst of the suffering of the Christians of the Middle East - the Rosary is presented as a particularly appropriate prayer to accompany this devotion. To meditate on the joyful mysteries allows us to contemplate Mary in her hidden life with Jesus, as tradition also contemplates her passage through Anjara; the painful mysteries illuminate the suffering of the Christians of the region and the pain expressed symbolically in the tears of the image; the glorious and luminous mysteries sustain the hope of Resurrection and peace. In this sense, the Rosary organically integrates devotion to Our Lady of the Anjara Mountainhelping the faithful to join Christ through Mary in a biblical and geographical context very close to the origins of the Gospel.