Our Lady of Henar

Patrona de Cuéllar

Our Lady of El Henar is a very dear Marian image on the Land of Seguvian Pinars. It is venerated in the Shrine of El Henar, about five kilometres from the village of Cuéllar, in the province of Segovia. Its name comes from the name "hay," which means a place populated by hay, and each year it congregates a multitudinary Romeria that brings together the peoples of the Community of Villa and Tierra de Cuéllar around which they call, with affection, "the Morenita."

Main data

The image brings together two planes that should be distinguished: on the one hand, the legend of its very ancient origin and its apparition to a shepherd; on the other hand, the historical and artistic data documented. This page presents everything on your site.

The image

The image presides over the main altar of his sanctuary. It is about 80 cm high, made of walnut wood and has no back, since it was in its origin attached to the wall. It is a Romanesque size of a Hieratic type, of Byzantine imitation, which follows the model of a Seeping Virgin or Throne of Wisdom: Mary, sitting with grave bearing, holds the Child between her knees.

His face, of special beauty and dark tone, has been given the nickname "The Morenita." The Child, of astonishing resemblance to the mother, poses in the attitude of blessing the Pantocrator style, with a book on the left hand. In the 18th century, adapting to fashions, she was dressed in large clothes and added to her hands. In 1969, with a view to his coronation, the Segovian artist Ángel García Ayuso restored it completely, eliminating the additions of the XVIII and recovering the original parts.

Origin: legend and reality

As in so many Romanesque stems of Mary, in El Henar there are two stories that do not match each other: the traditional and the historical.

The tradition

Tradition states that the image was brought from Antioch by St. Jerotheus, the first bishop of Segovia, and venerated in a small village of the Land of Cuéllar. To protect her from Muslim campaigns she would have been buried, along with a burning cirio, remaining hidden for centuries until, in 1580, she appeared to a child pastor of Viloria del Henar while keeping her flock. Tradition puts these words on its lips:

The story tells that the image cured the child, that he was manco, and that next to the slabs was found the cirium still on next to a source of abundant water from nowhere.

Historical reality

The scholars put the size in the purest Romanesque style of the early 12th century. This excludes the legend of a burial in the eighth century, as there are no such old Marian sculptures in Spain. In 1430, the Archedian of Cuéllar Gómez González bought the liturgical books of the hermitage - then in ruins - of Santa María del Henar: if he received worship in those years, he could not be buried, which did not make his "discovery" credible in 1580. The studies attribute the formulation of this legend to a parish priest from the area in the 17th century.

The Shrine of El Henar

The sanctuary rises five kilometres from Cuéllar, in its municipal term, on a hermitage that already existed in 1430. The present temple was built in the 17th century. He was attended by a congregation of Carmelites from 1924 to 2021; his cult is now attended by the local clergy.

Inside it stands the New Classical-style shrimp of the Virgin, built in 1759, with an oval dome decorated to the fresco with scenes of the legend of the apparition. The shrimp is headed by a golden, rococo-style altarpiece, in which the image is located, which revolves on its axis. The sanctuary also houses a museum with blankets, decorations and offerings of the faithful. In front of the temple is a wide meadow, next to which is the Fountain El Cirio, to whose waters devotion attributes miraculous properties.

Coronation, patronings and dignities

After a long process since 1956, Paul VI granted the grace of canonical coronation by decree of 30 May 1971. The event was held at 25 June 1972 in the prairie of the sanctuary, in a mass ceremony that brought together the peoples of the Community and the provinces of Segovia and Valladolid, presided over by the Cabildo cathedralicio of Segovia and its bishop. The Archbishop of Valladolid first crowned the Child and then the Mother with these words:

The Virgin of Henar also brings together several dignities. Pius XII proclaimed it in 1958 Canonical pattern of all Spanish resineros, in recognition of the devotion of those who worked pine resin on the Pinar Land. He is Patrona of the Community of Villa and Tierra de Cuéllar and has a perpetual position of Honorary Mayor of Cuéllar, proclaimed in 1939, with his command staff. In 1972 he received the Gold Medal of the province of Segovia.

Spiritual Message of the Henar

The devotion to the Virgin of the Henar speaks with simplicity today:

📿 Mary remains with her people. "La Morenita" has for centuries presided over the simple faith of the Land of Pinares.
🌾 Mary blesses the work of every day. She is a patron of the resineros: she accompanies those who earn the bread with the effort of the field and the pine.
🙏 Mary summons and reunites. Every year the Romeria brings together the people of Cuéllar around their Mother.
✝️ Mary holds her Son and shows us. As Throne of Wisdom, he always presents the Child who blesses.

Prayer to Our Lady of the Henar

The Marian prayers and accompanies his party with the prayer of Holy Rosary.

Sources: "Virgen del Henar," Wikipedia in Spanish (version consulted in 2026) · data on the image, the sanctuary, the canonical coronation of 1972 and the patronings contained in that article · Brief de Pius XII of 28 February 1958 (patronage of the resineros). The account of the apparition is presented as a pious legend, distinguished from the historical and artistic data documented on the size and the sanctuary.