La Venida del Pilar

Zaragoza, Spain · Year 40 AD

The first Marian apparition of history

In the early morning of January 2, 40 AD, something unprecedented happened on the banks of the Ebro River in the Roman city of Caesraugusta. The Apostle James the Major preached the Gospel in Hispania with little fruit and, discouraged, prayed with his disciples on the river bank. Suddenly, a multitude of angels surrounded the place by carrying a column of jaspe, on which was the Virgin Mary - still alive in Palestine - who appeared by bilocation to encourage the apostle.

That night, Mary had not yet died: she lived in Jerusalem, probably in the care of St. John. Theology calls this prodigy "bilocation": the simultaneous presence of the same person in two different places. The Holy See recognizes the coming as an "ancient and pious belief," allowing from the 14th century the liturgical office of the Pilar, and the oldest documents that reflect this tradition are preserved in the archive of the Cathedral of Zaragoza and date back to the 13th century.

The jasper column

The Virgin left as a tangible sign of her presence a column of jasped marble upon which she had lodged and asked Santiago to build a church there. That primitive temple - a simple chapel - is considered the first Marian sanctuary in the world. The original column is now venerated in the Basilica- Cathedral of Pilar, and the faithful kiss it daily through an orifice in the silver lining.

The present image of the Virgin is a 15th-century Gothic size of just 38 cm, dressed in embroidery blankets that are rially changed. The feast of October 12 - the Day of Hispanity - makes Zaragoza the largest devotional stage in Spain, with the traditional Ofrenda de Flores a la Virgen in which hundreds of thousands of people from all over the nation participate.

The bombs that didn't blow up - 1936

During the Spanish Civil War, on August 3, 1936, a Republican aircraft dropped four bombs on the basilica. Two hit the deck, one fell on the square and one hit the Ebro. None of them exploded. The two who pierced the roof - visible still hanging next to access to the crypt - fell on the area where Francisco de Goya painted the frescoes of the choreto without destroying the paintings.

The Pilar, mother of all the rosaries of Spain

From Zaragoza left in 1219 the first Dominican preacher of Spain, Holy Sunday of Guzmán passed through the Pilar on his way, and devotion to the Rosary was intertwined forever with this sanctuary. Today the basilica welcomes every afternoon the community prayer of the Rosary, an uninterrupted tradition for centuries.

"Santa María del Pilar, put Spain and the whole world under your cloak."