Marian devotion
Our Lady of Nazaré
The Virgin of the cliff · Sítio da Nazaré (Leiria)
On the promontory that dominates the ocean in Nazaré there is a small, dark image of the Virgin breastfeeding the Child. To it is attributed the miracle that saved the gentleman Don Fuas Rupinho from falling down the cliff in 1182.
Origin and history
The pious tradition tells that the image was carved by St. Joseph and painted by St. Luke, and that it came from Nazareth to the Peninsula to rid it of the iconoclasia, passing through Merida and reaching the Sitite in 711 with the monk Fray Romano. This whole journey belongs to the realm of legend; the size has not been scientifically dated.
The famous "Legend of Nazaré" narrates that in 1182, a morning of fog, the gentleman Don Fuas Rupinho pursued a deer near the cliff; on the edge of the cliff he invoked the Virgin and her horse miraculously stopped. In thanks he had the Capela da Memória built. In the face of the influx of pilgrims, King Fernando I founded the present sanctuary in 1377. The 18th century tiles narrate the miracle.
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