Our Lady of the Ancient

Marian devotion of Seville (Andalusia)

The pious tradition attributes to the image a very remote antiquity, coming to say that it would be from a visiotic period or that it was saved from the mosque during the conquest of Seville. These statements, however, are not documented and should be taken as pious. What historical criticism does establish is that it is a Gothic mural painting of the 14th century, probably of Italian influence, which appeared when he retired in the already Christian cathedral. The legend that presents it hidden and miraculously found after the reconquest, as the enlucid that covered it falls, is considered pious legend, without documentary proof.

Main data

Origin and history

The pious tradition attributes to the image a very remote antiquity, coming to say that it would be from a visiotic period or that it was saved from the mosque during the conquest of Seville. These statements, however, are not documented and should be taken as pious. What historical criticism does establish is that it is a Gothic mural painting of the 14th century, probably of Italian influence, which appeared when he retired in the already Christian cathedral. The legend that presents it hidden and miraculously found after the reconquest, as the enlucid that covered it falls, is considered pious legend, without documentary proof.

The image and the sanctuary

It is venerated in the Chapel of the Virgin of the Old, inside the Cathedral of Seville. The image is a Gothic mural painting of the 14th century, one of the great historical devotions of the metropolitan temple. She was very venerated by the sailors who left for America, until she became a protector of the Sevillian sailors and the Indian Race in the time of trade with the New World.

Sponsorship and coronation

It is one of the most entrenched Marian devotions of the Cathedral of Seville, especially among sailors and sailors in the time of Indias, but it is not known that it is the main patron of the city or of the archdiocese. It does not contain a formal solemn canonical coronation in the modern way; it has enjoyed an ancient and recognized cult, but canonical coronation as such does not contain.

Party and devotion

His cults are held around 15 August, according to the internal calendar of the Cathedral, with ninth and celebrations on those dates. His devotion was especially linked to the marine world and to those who undertook the journey to America, who invoked it as the protector of the journey.

Link to the Rosary

It does not contain a brotherhood of Rosario specific to Antigua in Seville. It is documented that hermandades and co-fradies prayed the rosary before the image in the centuries of the Counter-Reformation, but as general Marian practice and not as a unique feature of this advocation.