Our Lady of the Collado

Patrona de Santisteban del Puerto (Jaén)

Patrona de Santisteban del Puerto, Nuestra Señora del Collado is venerated since the Middle Ages; tradition places its finding in 1232, inside a bell buried in a hill to preserve it during Muslim rule.

Origin and history

According to tradition, in 1232 a farmer, Esteban Solís, found his plow in a large bell buried in a hill; inside was an image of the Virgin carved in wood, which the Christians would have hidden there after the Muslim invasion. The find was fixed on April 26, 1232 and named the image Virgin of the Collado, patron of the villa, with a feast in Pentecost.

The devotion is firmly rooted in Santisteban del Puerto, where it exists from the ancient very Old, Illutre and Real Colradia of the Virgin of the Collado. The image is recognized as "Coronada"; the Festivals of Pascumayo, around Pentecost, are a "unique and very old" celebration, with procedural transfers between the sanctuary and the Ejido hermitage, place of the find.

The story of the finding of 1232 is tradition. The exact year of canonical coronation (by 2004) does not contain safety in the sources.