Our Lady of Grace (Mare de Déu de Gràcia)

Patrona de Vila- real

The documentation on the hermitage of Our Lady of Grace and its development has been systematized since the Middle Ages in municipal and diocesan archives. An informative synthesis, based on this documentary tradition, indicates that the place of veneration dates back to 1375, when a hermit, Bernat Fabra, obtained permission from the municipality to settle in one of the caves of the Mijares River; from that moment the area becomes a place of pilgrimage. In 1383, after a penitential procession, the area was consecrated as a space of worship for Our Lady of Grace. The construction of the modern hermitage began in the 16th century, and the factory of the current building was established in 1577. Since 1633, the image of the Virgin of Grace has been venerated on the main altar as the patron of the city.

Main data

Origin and history

The documentation on the hermitage of Our Lady of Grace and its development has been systematized since the Middle Ages in municipal and diocesan archives. An informative synthesis, based on this documentary tradition, indicates that the place of veneration dates back to 1375, when a hermit, Bernat Fabra, obtained permission from the municipality to settle in one of the caves of the Mijares River; from that moment the area becomes a place of pilgrimage. In 1383, after a penitential procession, the area was consecrated as a space of worship for Our Lady of Grace. The construction of the modern hermitage began in the 16th century, and the factory of the current building was established in 1577. Since 1633, the image of the Virgin of Grace has been venerated on the main altar as the patron of the city.

La referencia al ermitaño Bernat Fabra viviendo en la cueva del Mijares y el inicio de las peregrinaciones en 1375 aparecen en fuentes divulgativas modernas que beben de documentación local, pero se transmiten con un tono más narrativo y devocional, por lo que se mantienen como tradición histórica local. La existencia de una imagen original de la Virgen (siglo XIV), hoy reproducida en la «coveta», forma parte tanto del patrimonio artístico como de la memoria devocional. El detalle exacto del origen milagroso o hallazgo prodigioso de la imagen no consta en las fuentes consultadas, que no describen apariciones ni hallazgos en el río.

The image and the sanctuary

La imagen se venera en la Ermita o Ermitorio de Nuestra Señora de Gracia (Ermitori de la Mare de Déu de Gràcia), en el paraje del Termet, a orillas del río Mijares, en el término municipal de Vila-real (provincia de Castellón, comarca de la Plana Baixa). Los orígenes constructivos del actual edificio se sitúan en torno a 1577, con nave única, bóveda de crucería y portada de piedra con arco de medio punto. Desde 1633 se venera en su altar mayor la imagen de la patrona. Anexa se encuentra la «coveta» (oratorio junto a la cueva), con una reproducción de la imagen original del siglo XIV. El propio paraje del Termet, a orillas del Mijares, es percibido como auténtico jardín botánico y entorno natural privilegiado.

Sponsorship and coronation

She is a patron of the city of Vila- real. On a canonical coronation, in the diocesan, tourist and general sources consulted, neither the explicit mention nor the year is clear; since canonical coronation requires a pontifical or ordinary decree with delegated power, and this data does not appear in the sources, it must be strictly stated that it does not contain.

Party and devotion

The holidays of the Virgin of Grace are held annually around the first weekend of September. The exact local liturgical day is not accurately recorded in the sources consulted. A very remarkable feature is the rosemary of the Virgin of Grace from the Termet's hermitage to the city, which is held every Friday before the first weekend of September and is the beginning of the ninth in honor of the Virgin. This Romeria, documented as a tradition since the 18th century (1757) according to the diocese, forms the relationship between the rural sanctuary of the Termet and the city, with the participation of civil authorities, party queens and faithful people.

Link to the Rosary

In the documentation consulted (official tourism documents, reviews of the hermitory, note of the diocese on the encyclopedic cult and synthesis) there is no specific, stable and specific link of this advocation to the Rosary.