Our Lady of the Vega (of the Espino)

Patron de Alcalá de la Selva (Teruel)

In the Vega de Alcalá de la Selva, in the Gudar saw, we venerate Our Lady of the Vega, also called the Espino, patron of the villa, in a sanctuary of long tradition of communal pilgrimage.

Origin and history

The tradition tells that, in the face of the Muslim invasion of the eighth century, the people hid an image of the Virgin among thorns in the Vega, where she remained until 1175, when some shepherds found her; taken to the parish, she would have returned three days to the Vega, a sign of wanting to be venerated there.

Documentally, there is a first temple founded in 1464 dedicated to this advocation; the present sanctuary is 1751, over the previous one, with the house of the hermit since 1590. Patrona de Alcalá de la Selva and regional irradiation in Gúdar- Javalambre, celebrates its "Great Day" on September 8 with rosemary.

Canonical coronation: not recorded.