Our Lady of the Fuensana (Villanueva del Archbishop)

Patron of the Four Villas · Jaén

In a sanctuary raised on a medieval fortress, next to Villanueva del Archbishop, we will venerate Our Lady of Fuensanta, patron of the Four Villas, one of the oldest Marian shrines in Spain.

Origin and history

The tradition places the origin in Muslim times: a young MozArab, ill-treated and thrown into a ravine, would have invoked the Virgin, who made a source sprout to cure her; from that "holy source" come the name Fuensana and the advocation. The sanctuary is already documented in 1291 as an important border pilgrimage centre.

The sanctuary rises on a medieval fortress of the XIII- 15th centuries; the temple is of three Gothic ships with mudejar sugar, and the image is venerated in a baroque shrimp of the 17th century (the current size is the work of the granadino Domingo Sánchez Mesa). She is the patron of Villanueva del Archbishop and of the Four Villas (Iznatoraf, Sorihuela del Guadalimar, Villacarillo and Villanueva), with great Romeria on 8 September.

It is distinct from the Fuensanta de Córdoba and Murcia. It contains the title "Coronado," but the year is not recorded in the sources.