Our Lady of the Tree of the Virgin

Marian vocation of Cairo (Egypt)

La devoción al Tree of the Virgin of Matariya- Heliopolis, in Cairo, supports прежде all in the Coptic tradition which identifies this place with a stage of the journey of the Sagrada Familia in her flight to Egypt. According to this tradition, Mary, Joseph and the Child Jesus rested there, and by the tree a manantial; the place is venerated from ancient as a memory of that passage of the Holy Family.

Main data

Origin and history

La devoción al Tree of the Virgin of Matariya- Heliopolis, in Cairo, supports прежде all in the Coptic tradition which identifies this place with a stage of the journey of the Sagrada Familia in her flight to Egypt. According to this tradition, Mary, Joseph and the Child Jesus rested there, and by the tree a manantial; the place is venerated from ancient as a memory of that passage of the Holy Family.

La documented history The site is now a place of Christian and also Muslim pilgrimage and is part of the devotional fabric of Matariya, in the ancient Heliopolis, north of Cairo. The reference to Roman period pozo in the surroundings of the tree, associated in local piety to the episode of the Holy Family; however, the concrete identification with the historical passage of Mary, Joseph and Jesus belongs to the realm of tradition, not of historical demonstration.

In recent years the place has been the subject of improvements and reopening to the public after the work of the Egyptian ministry of antiquities, which confirms its contemporary heritage and religious relevance.

The image and the sanctuary

No consta una Marian image specific, but a Holy site focused on the tree and its immediate environment. The relevant iconography is therefore the Mary's tree as a memory of the rest of the Holy Family; some descriptions also mention the well or source linked to local tradition.

The place is not described in the sources consulted as minor basilica, National sanctuary o diocesan sanctuary with that canonical name. It is a devotional enclave in Matariya, El Cairo, frequented by Coptic faithful and Muslims, and usually presented as one of the places of the Escape to Egypt linked to the presence of the Holy Family.

Sponsorship and coronation

The concrete patronage of this commitment to a city, municipality, diocese or nation is not recorded in the sources consulted.

No consta una documented canonical coronation.

Party and devotion

No consta una litigation fiesta propia universally established for this advocation in the sources consulted. Devotion is expressed above all by pilgrimages and pious visits to the tree and its surroundings, both of Coptic Christians and Muslims, made highlighted by several chronicles and reviews of the place.

Local tradition associates the site with a climate of veneration for its relationship with the Escape to Egypt and by the memory of manantial or water from the place. The sources consulted do not provide reliable data of numerical inflow; they confirm that this is a point of pilgrimage and of persistent religious interest.

Link to the Rosary

No consta un specific historical link between this advocation and a brotherhood, rosarian title or rosarian practice. However, the Rosary naturally accompanies this devotion because its mysteries allow us to contemplate Mary in the mystery of the the hidden life of Jesus, la Escape to Egypt and the Mother's maternal protection over the Holy Family; therefore, in a sanctuary like this, the Rosary is understood as a particularly suitable prayer to meditate on Joseph's obedience, Mary's motherhood and God's providence in the holy exile of Egypt.