Our Lady of the Sotherraña

The "sorely" Virgin, found underground · Santa Maria la Real de Nieva (Segovia)

The name "Soterraña" comes from sown: an image of the Virgin found underground. In the early 15th century, one of the great Marian shrines of Castile, the Royal Monastery of Santa María la Real de Nieva, was born around this finding.

Origin and history

According to tradition, the image of the Virgin was found hidden or buried - hence the title "Soterraña" - finding that popular piety interpreted it as a miraculous protection that had preserved it from wars and desecration. On the site of the find was first raised a hermitage and then a great monastery.

El Real Monastery of Santa María la Real de Nieva was founded in the early 15th century by the queen Catalina de Lancaster, wife of Henry III of Castile, as a Dominican monastery and place of special Marian devotion. The image of the Soterraña soon acquired great prestige as a miraculous Virgin and a goal of pilgrimages, with testimonies of real visits. The whole, of remarkable artistic value - with a famous Gothic cloister - mudejar sculpted - remains a place of worship.

Under the title "Soterraña" there is also a cult in Olmedo (Valladolid), with its own sanctuary and history. The exact date of the feast, the formal decree of patronage and a possible canonical coronation do not record with certainty the general sources consulted.