Anecdotes about the Virgin Mary

The Virgin of the Dove and the child from Wolf Street

Madrid (Spain)

In the heart of Madrid, an ancient and dear story is preserved: that of a child in grave danger on the old street of Lobo - today the street of Echegaray, in the Quarter of the Letters - which was saved, according to tradition, by intercession of the Virgin of the Paloma. Some versions speak of a child fallen from a balcony that was unharmed; others, of a carriage accident from which he came out alive; others, of a very sick little one who healed. In all, the mother, devout of the dove, invokes the Virgin, and when she is heard she comes crying of gratitude before the painting.

It is appropriate to be honest: this account belongs to the Pious tradition and popular memory of Madrid, not to the documented history. Neither the parish, nor the archdiocese, nor the serious studies collect a concrete miracle dated on the street of the Wolf; the details change according to who tells it. We therefore have it as what it is: one of those beautiful stories with which the people have meant, from generation to generation, that the Virgin of the Dove is close to children and mothers.

And that last is well attested. Desde el hallazgo del lienzo de la Soledad hacia 1787 —recogido por Isabel Tintero, que lo colgó con un farolillo en el portal de su casa de la calle de la Paloma—, la devoción creció con fama de «milagrera», sobre todo en favor de las and children. Ya en 1788, just a year later, the custom of to present the children to the Virgin on the day of the Candelaria, el 2 de febrero, cuando se baja el cuadro al presbiterio y los padres acercan a sus pequeños. Esa fila de padres con sus bebés, repetida durante más de dos siglos, es el verdadero «milagro» cotidiano de la Paloma.

Therefore, the legend of the child of Wolf Street, although we cannot date it, expresses a profound truth: that before the Virgin no child is lost, and that the first gesture of a believing mother, in fright or in illness, is to place her little one under the mantle of Mary.