Our Lady of Guadalupe

Extreme Patron

Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the great Marian devotions of Spain, in the village of Guadalupe. As a documented history, the sanctuary has developed greatly from the 14th century, especially under the patronage of the kings of Castile, in particular Alfonso XI, who attributed to the Virgin the victory of the battle of the Salado (1340) and ordered the construction of a sanctuary that gave rise to the great monastery. According to tradition, the origin is located in the finding of an image hidden from visionary times (7th century), buried by clerics fleeing the Muslim invasion and miraculously found by a pastor in the 13th century on the banks of the Guadalupejo River; this clearly belongs to the genre of the legendary account of origin and is not documented in contemporary sources.

Main data

Origin and history

Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the great Marian devotions of Spain, in the village of Guadalupe. As a documented history, the sanctuary has developed greatly from the 14th century, especially under the patronage of the kings of Castile, in particular Alfonso XI, who attributed to the Virgin the victory of the battle of the Salado (1340) and ordered the construction of a sanctuary that gave rise to the great monastery. According to tradition, the origin is located in the finding of an image hidden from visionary times (7th century), buried by clerics fleeing the Muslim invasion and miraculously found by a pastor in the 13th century on the banks of the Guadalupejo River; this clearly belongs to the genre of the legendary account of origin and is not documented in contemporary sources.

The image and the sanctuary

La imagen se venera en el Real Monasterio de Santa María de Guadalupe, regido actualmente por la Orden Franciscana (antes por los jerónimos). La batalla del Salado (1340) es un episodio histórico recogido en las crónicas: Alfonso XI, ante la inminencia de la batalla contra los benimerines, invocó la protección de Santa María de Guadalupe y, tras la victoria, decidió engrandecer el santuario en acción de gracias. El monasterio tuvo gran importancia para la Monarquía Hispánica y la evangelización de América: los Reyes Católicos, Carlos V y Felipe II fomentaron la devoción guadalupense, y allí se celebraron encuentros, capitulaciones y misiones, de donde procede el título popular de «Reina de la Hispanidad», título piadoso y no definición dogmática.

Sponsorship and coronation

She is the patron of Extremadura, recognized as such on March 20, 1907 by Saint Pius X. She is also a patron of the village of Guadalupe. The solemn canonical coronation was held in 1928; the day and the month do not record with certainty in a reliable open source, so the year is recorded only.

Party and devotion

The main feast is held on September 8, Nativity of the Virgin. There are also other important local dates and romanias that vary. Guadalupense devotion has over the centuries been one of the most influential in Spain, linked to the Crown and the Hispanic projection.

Link to the Rosary

There is no specific link of this advocation to the devotion of the Rosary, as in Lourdes or Fatima. As a great Marian sanctuary, historically in Guadalupe, there have been practice of the Rosary, public rosaries and other forms of popular rosary, but this belongs to the general context of Marian piety in Spain and not to a characteristic feature of the advocation; a specific and differential data does not contain.