Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The converted shepherd boy and the image that returned to the rocks

Escorca, Mallorca (Spain) (c. 1250)

In the Serra de Tramuntana mountains, a few years after the conquest of Mallorca by James I, tradition tells a story of discovery and new faith. A young shepherd, a former Muslim recently converted to Christianity and baptized with the name Lluc, was tending his flock in those mountains when, one Saturday, he perceived strange lights and noises coming from a crevice in the rocks. He approached and found a small image of the Virgin and Child, with dark skin, beside a stream.

The boy took the image to the monk or parish priest of Sant Pere d'Escorca, who placed it in the church. But the next day the image had disappeared, and it was found again in the same place where the shepherd had found it. The miracle was repeated several times, until everyone understood it as a sign: the Virgin wanted to be venerated there, in that mountainous spot. They then built a small hermitage on the site of the apparition, the origin of the present-day Sanctuary of Santa Maria de Lluc.

It must be said frankly: no contemporary document exists that describes this shepherd named Lluc, his status as a convert, or the miracles of the image's return. All of this—the name, the lights, the noises, the relocations, and the reappearances—is devotional tradition, a beautiful "legend of discovery" similar to other "found Marian legends" of the former Crown of Aragon. What is reasonably documented is the existence of a Marian shrine in Lluc around the mid-13th century, with a hermitage traditionally dated to 1254, and a medieval image of about 61 cm, in the 13th-century style and with a dark complexion, which the locals affectionately call "La Moreneta" (the Little Dark One).

Our Lady of Lluc is today the patron saint of Mallorca, invoked as "Queen and Mother of Mallorca," and her sanctuary is the spiritual heart of the island. Regarding the exact date of her canonical coronation and a particular connection with the Rosary, the sources consulted provide no details: it is not documented. However, it is very likely, as in any great Marian sanctuary, that the Rosary forms part of the daily prayer of the pilgrims who ascend to Lluc.