Our Lady of Martyrdom

Patron saint of La Alpujarra · Ugíjar (Granada)

Patron saint of Ugíjar and all of La Alpujarra, Our Lady of Martyrdom receives her name from a shocking event: the image, before the Rosary, was burned and thrown into a well in the Moorish rebellion of 1568 and found charred decades later.

Origin and history

The image, a late Gothic carving attributed to the 15th century, was originally venerated as Our Lady of the Rosary. On Christmas Eve of 1568, during the Moorish rebellion, Ugíjar was attacked, and the image was burned and thrown into a well. According to tradition, in 1606, while cleaning the well, a local resident heard the voice "Martyrdom is my name, I am called Martyrdom," finding the charred image; since then, it has been invoked as Our Lady of Martyrdom.

The patron saint of Ugíjar and the Alpujarra region of Granada, she was canonically crowned in 2007, following the Jubilee Year granted by the Holy See in 2006 for the fourth centenary of the "discovery of the well." Her annual descent from her niche on September 28th is one of the most moving moments in the religious traditions of the Alpujarra. The sanctuary also houses the relics of the child martyr "Gonzalico."