Our Lady of the Ancient

The Virgin of the White Rose · Cathedral of Seville

In a chapel of the Girola of the Cathedral of Seville is venerated the Virgin of the Old, a great fresco Marian that tradition links to the conquest of the city by Fernando III. From it he left a devotion that crossed the sea to America and Asia.

Origin and history

According to the Sevillian tradition, the image was a very ancient Marian painting, preserved in the Aljama mosque of Isbiliya; it is said that, before the Christian conquest, it would have been taped to protect it and that the king Fernando III de Castilla He discovered it when the partition was down. This legend, collected in devotional chronicles such as that of Antonio de Solís (18th century), presents the Ancient as a Marian presence linked to the Christian origins of the city.

Historically, the image that is venerated is a fresh or mural paint bajomieval, probably linked to a Spanish-Latvian advocation spread in the Middle Ages. After the conversion of the mosque to the Cathedral, devotion was consolidated and a chapel of its own was dedicated to the Girola. From the Sevillian image, the advocation of Antigua spread through America - it is patron of Panama and the diocese of Apartadó (Colombia) - and even arrived in Asia.

The story of the discovery by Fernando III belongs to tradition. The exact date of own feast in Seville and a possible canonical coronation do not record with certainty in the sources consulted.