Nosa Señora do Faro

The Virgin of the Mountain · Chantada (Lugo)

At the summit of Mount Faro, the highest Marian shrine in Lugo, on the border with Pontevedra, venerates Nosa Señora do Faro, the goal of an interprovincial rostery to which the faithful of the four Galician provinces rise.

Origin and history

Mount Faro was from ancient strategic and religious place, with Galician-Roman remains; on an earlier temple of possible Romanesque origin the sanctuary was raised. The present hermitage is from the second half of the 17th century, with the reform of the frontis in 1726. In 1805 the bishop of Lugo ordered the chapel to be demolished to cover the wars against the French, and then it was rebuilt, and the rosemary was recovered.

The rosemary of 8 September is multitudinary and interprovincial: thousands of faithful from the four Galician provinces go up to the summit, many on foot. A feature of its own is the procession of the image called "A Filla" from the parish church of Santiago de Requeixo to the sanctuary, passing through a Via Cruciis and sources of "Milagreiras."

Formal patronage and canonical coronation: no record.