Our Lady of Europe
Our Lady of Europe | |
---|---|
Europe | |
Major shrine | Shrine of Our Lady of Europe |
Feast | 5 May (Europe Day) since 1979; previously it was celebrated on 30 May and 15 August |
Patronage |
Our Lady of Europe (
Together with
Background
The peninsula now known as Gibraltar was at one time called Calpe. Gibraltar takes its name from the phrase Gibel Tarik, which means "the Mountain of Tarik", and commemorates the capture of the peninsula by Tarik Ibn Zayid in 710. Muslim troops built a fortress and a mosque at Europa Point at the southernmost part of Gibraltar, located just across from the North African coast.[5]
Devotion in Gibraltar
Origins during the Spanish period
In 1309, King Ferdinand IV of Castile took Gibraltar, driving the Muslim troops back across the strait to Africa. The King converted the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine. The Muslims again captured Gibraltar 24 years later in 1333. In 1462 King Henry IV recaptured Gibraltar and restored the devotion to Our Lady of Europe initiated by his grandfather, Ferdinand, once again transforming the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine.[5]
A chapel was later built over the remains of the mosque and the whole area became known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (Spanish: Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Europa). A statue of the Virgin and Child was installed in there in the 15th century. The statue was quite small, only two feet in height, carved in wood and polychromed in royal red, blue and gold. The Virgin was seated in a simple chair, with the Child Jesus on her lap. Both were crowned and the Virgin held in her right hand a sceptre with three flowers denoting Love, Truth and Justice.
On September 10, 1540, Gibraltar suffered a raid by Barbarossa's
The shrine prospered in fame and popularity, for well over two centuries. Ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar saluted Our Lady as they passed Europa Point and mariners often came ashore with offerings for the shrine. Provision was made for a supply of oil to keep a lamp burning in the shrine tower (former minaret), thus making it a navigational beacon. Notable gifts include a silver lamp, given in 1568 by
Alonso Hernández del Portillo, a councilor from Gibraltar during late 16th and early 17th century and first chronicler of the city, narrates in his Historia de la Muy Noble y Más Leal Ciudad de Gibraltar (1610–22) (English: History of the Very Noble and Most Loyal City of Gibraltar) the story of many other declared miracles attributed to Our Lady of Europe, one of them having been witnessed by himself. Another historian, Fray Jerónimo de la Concepción, in his work Cadiz Ilustrada (1690), also records many such miracles which occurred in Gibraltar.
One notable miracle was that of fisherman Luis Lecayo in 1633. He was caught in a heavy storm at night, thrown into the turbulent sea, and considered himself lost only praying to Our Lady of Europe for help. He survived and later gave his account of the claimed miracle to the Bishop of Cádiz, Domingo Cano de Haro, who promoted devotion to Our Lady within the
A confraternity, the Confraternity of Our Lady of Europe (Spanish: Cofradía de Nuestra Señora de Europa), was later established. A larger statue of Our Lady of Europe was specifically carved and enthroned in the town's central church, the Church of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard (Spanish: Iglesia de Santa Maria la Coronada y San Bernado, presently the Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar).[9] The confraternity was disestablished some time after 1704.[10]
The Capture of Gibraltar
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Anglo-Dutch troops captured Gibraltar. The shrine, as most other Catholic places of worship was desecrated and was taken over for military use. The shrine was looted and the statue of the Virgin and Child was broken and its remains thrown out to sea. As the statue was carved from wood, the pieces were recovered by a fisherman who found them floating in the Bay of Gibraltar and later delivered them to Juan Romero de Figueroa, the priest in charge at the Church of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard, who took the pieces of the statue to Algeciras for safekeeping. They were placed in the Chapel of St. Bernard, which was then dedicated to Our Lady of Europe and named (Spanish: Capilla de Nuestra Señora de Europa).[4][11][12][13]
Consolidation during the British period
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British. It lasted three years and seven months from 1779 to 1783 and caused great damage to the town. The old shrine was no exception, and this eventually led to its demolition. A replica of the statue had been made to replace the original, held in Algeciras. The copy was kept at the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard, but when the church came under bombardment it relocated to Windmill Hill. After the end of the siege, the statue returned to the cathedral.[14]
In the early 1860s, the
As the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained in military hands, the statue was provisionally placed in the
In the meantime, during the bishopric of
The building erected at the place of the old Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained property of the British Ministry of Defence until 1961. It had been an army storehouse for oil and packing case. Since 1928 it had been used as a library for the garrison, but with the outbreak of World War II, it was returned to a storage facility.[17] By 1959, the military authorities, which had begun to withdraw many military installations in Gibraltar, noticed that it was no longer required and decided to demolish it. However, this never happened and due to the efforts of Bishop John Healy it was ceded to the Catholic diocese on 17 October 1961, in a private ceremony.[22] Restoration works began in 1962. For the first time in 258 years, a mass was celebrated at the Shrine on 28 September 1962.[23] The statue was finally transferred to the Shrine in public procession from St. Joseph's Parish Church on 7 October 1967.[24] The statue of Our Lady remains in the Shrine to this day.
Bishop
In 2002, on the occasion of his
Since its establishment in 2003, the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe belongs to the European Marian Network, which links twenty Marian sanctuaries in Europe (as many as the number of decades in the Rosary).[27][28]
Septcentenary of the devotion to Our Lady of Europe
Although historians acknowledge the consecration of the pre-existing mosque as a Christian shrine in the first Christian occupation (1309–1333), it is not clear that its consecration to Our Lady of Europe took place during this same period. Despite this, the Diocese of Gibraltar asserts that the original consecration did take place during this short Christian occupation of the territory, in 1309, under the rule of
The jubilee celebrations included processions, masses and various other acts of devotion. On 5 May, the feast day of Our Lady of Europe, a solemn High Mass took place in a marquee outside the shrine, with the attendance of a delegation of some 70 leading senior ecclesiastical figures from across Europe. Civil representatives included Chief Minister Peter Caruana, Governor Sir Adrian Johns, Leader of the Opposition Joe Bossano and other members of the Gibraltar Parliament, Mayor Solomon Levy as well as the Spanish mayor of La Línea Alejandro Sánchez García. The statue of Our Lady of Europe was brought in procession from the Shrine at Europa Point. During the mass, the Shrine and the Roman Catholic Diocese in Gibraltar received the Golden Rose, a rare gift bestowed by the Pope.[2][30] The Continent was re-consecrated to Our Lady of Europe.[29]
Celebrations also involved cross-border elements. A procession took place on April 27 from Gibraltar to the bordering
In addition to these celebrations, Bishop Caruana authored the book History of Our Lady of Europe, published by the
In March 2010, an International Marian Congress was to be held in Gibraltar, with the themes Mary, a sign of Christian identity; religion, anthropology, history and art. Its object, according to Bishop Charles Caruana, is:[40]
..to disseminate the importance of Marian devotion to the image of Our Lady of Europa through its history and the artistic legacy that has developed around it; and that it should become the centre of studies of the figure of the Virgin Mary from the standpoint of faith, art, history and anthropology.
Hymn
La Plegaria a la Virgen de Europa (English: The Hymn to Our Lady of Europe) is a
The Plegaria was traditionally performed live as the last song (before
Although not on purpose, it was re-recorded in 2009 during the jubilee year celebrating the septcentenary of the devotion to Our Lady of Europe.[41]
Devotion beyond Gibraltar
In Algeciras
After the Capture of Gibraltar by the Anglo-Dutch fleet, almost all the inhabitants of the town left it and settled down in different locations within the
The chapel became parish church in 1721, and remained so until 1736, when its function was taken over by the neighbouring
In Medina Sidonia
The devotion to Our Lady of Europe dates from the time Gibraltar was a
In Seville
Devotion in Seville began in the seventeenth century[45] during the Spanish period of Gibraltar by inhabitants of the town which settled down near the parish church of St. Martin (Spanish: Iglesia Parroquial de San Martín).[46] Initially, there was a small chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Europe, where a painting of Our Lady of Europe had been placed, enclosed in an Altarpiece.[47] It was located in a square called Plaza de Europa (English: Europe Square).[46][47] In 1695, a confraternity devoted to Our Lady of Europe (Spanish: La Muy Ilustre Hermandad de Nuestra Señora de Europa) was also created there where it participated in public devotions.[47] About 1715 a statue was carved, possibly by Benito Hita del Castillo,[45] and a new chapel-niche with the altarpiece was built. From an iconographic point of view, the statue resembled a piece of medieval art, as Our Lady is seated and wearing a crown. She has the Child Jesus on her left hand and holds in her right hand a flower. There could have been a former statue, from the seventeenth century.[45]
During the eighteenth century, the confraternity developed an intense activity, celebrating Our Lady's feast day each 8 September as well as public daily praying of the rosary.[47] In 1854, Our Lady's statue and painting were moved to its current location, the parish church of St. Martin.[46] However, the confraternity held its last meeting in 1986 as devotion to Our Lady of Europe in Seville died out.[46]
In Madrid and Barcelona
The Gibraltar priest
While leading the Diocese of Barcelona, De Astorga noticed a statue on an archway in Manresa that reminded him to that of Our Lady of Europe in Gibraltar. The statue had no name, so the Bishop titled her as Our Lady of Europe and therefore the archway become El Portal de Europa (English: Europa Archway). Unfortunately, the archway was demolished and the statue taken to another church, being known from that point on as Our Lady of the Snow.[48]
De Astorga was later elevated to the
In Spain
There are several Catholic parishes in Spain named Nuestra Señora de Europa. There is one in Madrid
In Italy
During the late 1950s, Catholic sectors felt that the
A 13 metres (43 ft) high
The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (Italian: Santuario di Nostra Signora d'Europa) is currently the headquarters of the European Ecumenical Centre for Peace.[54]
Elsewhere in Europe
The Catholic chapel of the
See also
- Titles of Mary
- Shrine of Our Lady of Africa
References
- ^ "Title origin".
- ^ a b c d "Shrine of Our Lady of Europe - Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar". Catholic Church. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
- ^ "Gibraltar Our Lady of Europa 20p". www.westminstercollection.com. Archived from the original on 3 March 2020.
- ^ a b Bon, Patrice (28 April 2019), Français: Informations sur le Sanctuaire marial de Notre-Dame de l'Europe, afficher dans une exposition au Sanctuaire de Lourdes, à l'accueil Jean-Paul II, retrieved 2 May 2019
- ^ a b "A Short History of the Shrine", Diocese of Gibraltar
- ^ a b Caruana, 2
- ^ Armando V. Flores Salazar (2008). "Nuestra Señora de África en Monterrey" (PDF) (in Spanish).
- ^ "Origin of the title 'Our Lady of Europe'", Diocese of Gibraltar
- ^ Caruana, 4
- ^ Caruana, 5
- ^ Jackson, Sir William G. F. (1987). "7. Habsburg Gibraltar - The Eleventh and Twelfth Sieges, 1693 to 1713". The Rock of the Gibraltarians - A History of Gibraltar. London and Toronto: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 98.
- ^ Hills, George (1974). Rock of Contention - A History of Gibraltar. Robert Hale. p. 173.:
.. twelve silver lamps, candlesticks, lecterns, crowns, gems and consecrated vessels, the clothes of many families, who had withdrawn there, and when there was nothing else to rob, they broke off the head of the statue which is so venerated in Spain and the child Jesus and threw it among the stones.
- ^ López de Ayala, Ignacio (1845). Historia de Gibraltar [History of Gibraltar]. James Bell. London. p. 140.
- ^ Caruana, 9
- ^ a b c "Lady of Europe 700th 50p coin - Stamps". Gibraltar-stamps.com. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Caruana, 6
- ^ a b c "Vatican-Gibraltar Joint issue folder - Stamps". Gibraltar-stamps.com. 7 October 1968. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Caruana, 10
- ^ Caruana, 12
- ^ Caruana, 13
- ^ Caruana, 11
- ^ Caruana, 16
- ^ Caruana, 17
- ^ Caruana, 19
- ^ Caruana, 21
- ^ "History: Pope John Paul II Crowns". Our Lady of Europe. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Alice Mascarenhas (5 May 2009). "'The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe is a Centre of Spirituality'". Gibraltar Chronicle. Retrieved 30 January 2010.
- ^ The European Marian Network
- ^ a b Jubilee 2008-2009
- ^ Pope blesses Gibraltar, Gibraltar Chronicle, 6 May 2009.
- ^ "Joint Gibraltar Spanish cross-border procession for Our Lady of Europe — MercoPress". En.mercopress.com. 7 April 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ "La Virgen de Europa cruza la frontera de Gibraltar en procesión" (in Spanish). Terra Noticias/EFE. 27 April 2009.
- ^ a b El obispo de Gibraltar ofreció anoche una conferencia sobre la Virgen de Europa, 16 April 2009 (in Spanish)
- ^ Ignacio Iglesias Triay (12 July 2009). "La diversidad cultural es el tesoro más bello que tenemos en Gibraltar" (in Spanish). Europa Sur.
- ^ "Vatican Press Publishes 'Our Lady of Europe' Book". Gibraltar Chronicle. Archived from the original on 9 May 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ Alice Mascarenhas (18 March 2009). "A First for the Rock New Release of Joint Vatican and Gib Stamps". Gibraltar Chronicle. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012. Retrieved 30 October 2010.
- ^ Gibraltar Stamps, in Philatelic Supplies
- ^ Auction of a 1966 stamp devoted to Our Lady of Europe
- ^ "700 Years of Devotion Silver Medal - Stamps". Gibraltar-stamps.com. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ a b Brian McCann (21 January 2010). "International Catholic congress for Gibraltar". Panorama.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "50 Years On.. La Plegaria holds a place in the Hearts of many". Gibraltar Chronicle. 1 May 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2010.
- ^ a b Caruana, 15
- ^ Jackson, Sir William G. F. (1987). "7. Habsburg Gibraltar - The Eleventh and Twelfth Sieges, 1693 to 1713". The Rock of the Gibraltarians - A History of Gibraltar. London and Toronto: Fairleigh Dickinson University Press. p. 101.
- ^ López de Ayala, Ignacio (1845). Historia de Gibraltar [History of Gibraltar]. James Bell. London. p. 144.
- ^ a b c Iglesia de San Martín de Sevilla, at artesacro.org (in Spanish)
- ^ a b c d Caruana, 8
- ^ ISBN 84-300-9271-4.)
{{cite book}}
: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link - ^ a b c Caruana, 7
- ^ a b Iconography of Our Lady of Europe, in the Parish of Our Lady of Europe in Madrid (in Spanish)
- ^ Parish of Our Lady of Europe in Madrid (in Spanish)
- ^ Parish of Our Lady of Europe in Chiclana (in Spanish)
- ^ Escuela Universitaria de Magisterio 'Virgen de Europa' (in Spanish)
- ^ a b c Caruana, 14
- ^ a b Shrine of Our Lady of Europe Archived 2010-01-23 at the Wayback Machine (in Italian)
- ^ “Update,” Marian Library Newsletter 40 (Summer 2000), p. 3. Marian Library at the University of Dayton.
Bibliography
- Bishop of Gibraltar. "Historical Notes On Our Lady of Europe, based on History of Our Lady of Europe".
External links
- Vatican press publishes 'Our Lady of Europe' Book, 5 May 2009.
- Historical notes on the Shrine Of Our Lady Of Europe
- Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society
- International Marian Research Institute at the University of Dayton. The institute, a leading center for research and scholarship on the Blessed Virgin Mary, has a vast presence in cyberspace.
- Marian Library at the University of Dayton. The Marian Library is the world's largest repository of books, periodicals, artwork, and artifacts on Mary, the mother of Jesus Christ.