Our Lady of the Olive

The Virgin of the Olive · Guimarães

In the heart of Guimarães, the Collegiate of Nossa Senhora da Oliveira keeps the memory of a dry olive tree that reverted and of the great victories attributed to the intercession of the Virgin in the origins of Portugal.

Origin and history

In the place there was already in the 10th century a monastery founded by Countess Mumadona Días in 949, dedicated to the Saviour, to Saint Mary and to the Apostles. The church of Santa Maria de Guimarães was soon a great religious focus of the north. King Don John I prayed before this image before the decisive battle of Aljubarrota (1385).

According to tradition, the title "da Oliveira" was born about 1342: an old olive tree, planted for its oil to feed the lamp of the altar, had dried up; after a cross was erected in the square, the tree reverted and again gave fruit, a sign interpreted as protection of the Virgin. The square took the name Largo da Oliveira and the church Nossa Senhora da Oliveira. The association with one vote after the battle of the Salate (1340) belongs to the local historical memory.