Our Lady of Contrusion (Gijon)
On a hill in the district of Contrueces, on the old royal road to Oviedo, one of the oldest Marian shrines of Asturias rises. The devotion to Santa Maria de Contrueces has been documented since 905, in the Book of the Testaments of the Cathedral of Oviedo. Venerated under the title of the Assumption, the Virgin of Contruths has for centuries been a refuge and comfort of the Gijonese, who go up to their hermitage to entrust themselves to the Mother of God.
🌹 Wonders and anecdotes
- The first documentary mention of the sanctuary appears in a document of August 28, 905, confirmed by King Alfonso III the Great and his wife Doña Jimena, who already quotes Saint Mary of Contrueces as a place of worship.
- Throughout the Middle Ages the sanctuary received real donations: in 1112 from the Queen of Urraca and in 1178 from Fernando II of León, a sign of the arraigo of this Marian devotion in the Kingdom of Asturias and León.
- The present temple was erected between 1638 and 1660 according to plans of Gonzalo de Güemes Bracamonte, and was opened on June 24, 1660; a 1762 remodeling gave it its current popular baroque physionomy.
- It keeps a remarkable baroque altarpiece of golden wood attributed to Luis Fernández de la Vega, an ancient crucifix and a size of Santa Apolonia from the XIV-XV centuries that was stolen in 1970 and returned to the fifteen days by the thief himself.
- The illustrated Gaspar Melchor of Jovellanos frequented the sanctuary to meditate and write, and recorded his affection for this Marian place over the villa of Gijón.
- In times of drought it was tradition to lower the image in rogative to the church of San Pedro; the first modern procession of this kind took place in 1966 imploring the rain.
Our Lady of Contrusion
The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Contruties crown a hill in the south of Gijon, in Asturias, and custody one of the oldest Marian devotions of the Principality, attested since 905. Under the title of the Assumption, the Virgin of Contruths has for more than a millennium accompanied the Gijonese, who go up to their baroque hermitage to entrust themselves to the Mother of God and to celebrate their feast every August.
In this hill of Gijon, as our elders did, we went up to you to put our joys and tidings in your hands. Teach us to raise our eyes to the sky to which you were raised, hold our faith in the droughts of the soul and keep us always under your cloak. Amen.
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