Our Lady of Covadonga also named "La Santina" is a title of the Blessed Virgin Mary and the name of a Marian shrine devoted to her at Covadonga, Asturias. The shrine in northwestern Spain rose to prominence following the Battle of Covadonga in about 720, which was the first defeat of the Moors during their invasion of Spain. A statue of the Virgin Mary, hidden in one of the caves, was believed to have miraculously aided the Christian victory.
Our Lady of Covadonga is the co-patron of Asturias, and a basilica was built to house the current statue. Her feast day is 8 September, as it is also the autonomic day of Asturias. [1]
Covadonga is a mountainous region in the province of Asturias in the extreme north west of Spain. Following the Islamic Arab invasion of Spain in 711, Roderic, the Christian Visigoth King of Spain was defeated and killed at the Battle of Guadalete. The battle was decisive and led to the swift conquest of most of Visigothic Spain.
The remnant of the Visigoth nobility retreated to the remote mountains of northern Spain. According to texts written in northern Iberia during the ninth century, they elected in 718 a man named Pelayo, or Pelagius, as their leader. Pelayo's father had been a dignitary at the court of the Visigoth King Egica. Pelayo gathered a band of warriors to resist Islamic encroachment. When in 722 the Arab commander of Spain sent an army to eliminate this resistance, the Christian army made its stand at a place of many caves known as Covadonga.
According to tradition Pelayo retreated to a cave where a hermit had secreted a statue of the Virgin Mary, saved from the Muslim conquest. He prayed to the virgin for victory. In the subsequent battle the Christians made use of the natural defences. The moorish commander fell in the battle, and his soldiers fled. This victory, considered the first of the Christian reconquista of Spain, established the independence of the Kingdom of Asturias in north west Spain.
Pelayo credited the intercession of the Virgin Mary for his victory. And in recognition of this miraculous intercession, King Alfonso I, the Catholic (739-757) commanded that a monastery and chapel be built on the site in honor of Our Lady of Covadonga.
The sanctuary came to be run by Augustinian canons but was destroyed by fire on 17 October 1777. The shrine was rebuilt piecemeal, until replaced by a great Basilica that was consecrated in 1901. The basilica houses[ citation needed ] the current statue of Our Lady of Covadonga, dating to the 16th century. Pope John Paul II visited the shrine during his papacy.[ citation needed ]
Amigos de Covadonga is a non-profit civil association which began in 2018 to spread the word and promote devotion to the Virgin of Covadonga. [2]
Pelagius was a Hispano-Visigoth nobleman who founded the Kingdom of Asturias in 718. Pelagius is credited with initiating the Reconquista, the Christian reconquest of the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors, and establishing the Asturian monarchy, making him the forefather of all the future Iberian monarchies, including the Kings of Castile, the Kings of León, and the Kings of Portugal.
The Battle of Covadonga took place in 722 between the army of Pelagius the Visigoth and the army of the Umayyad Caliphate. Fought near Covadonga, in the Picos de Europa, it resulted in a victory for the Christian forces of Pelagius. It is traditionally regarded as the foundational event of the Kingdom of Asturias and thus the initial point of the Christian Reconquista ("reconquest") of Spain after the Umayyad conquest of 711.
The Kingdom of Asturias was a kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula founded by the Visigothic nobleman Pelagius. It was the first Christian political entity established after the Umayyad conquest of Visigothic Hispania in 711. In the Summer of 722, Pelagius defeated an Umayyad army at the Battle of Covadonga, in what is retroactively regarded as the beginning of the Reconquista.
A shrine to the Virgin Mary, or Marian shrine, is a shrine marking an apparition or other miracle ascribed to the Blessed Virgin Mary, or a site on which is centered a historically strong Marian devotion. Such locales are often the destinations of Christian pilgrimages.
Covadonga is one of 11 parishes in Cangas de Onís, a municipality within the province and autonomous community of Asturias, in Northwestern Spain. It is situated in the Picos de Europa mountains. With a permanent population of 55, the parish became a site of pilgrimage and a place of great cultural importance following the 722 Battle of Covadonga, which marked the beginning of the Spanish Reconquista of the Iberian Peninusla. The battle, which took place near the village in 722, was the first Christian victory in the Iberian Peninsula over the Arabs invading from north Africa under the Umayyad banner, and is often considered to be the beginning of the almost eight century-long effort to expel Muslim rulers governing Iberia during the Reconquista.
Alfonso I of Asturias, called the Catholic, was the third king of Asturias, reigning from 739 to his death in 757. His reign saw an extension of the Christian domain of Asturias, reconquering Galicia and León.
Cangas de Onís is a municipality in the eastern part of the province and autonomous community of Asturias in the northwest of Spain. The capital of the municipality is also Cangas de Onís.
Candelaria, also Villa Mariana de Candelaria, is a municipality and city in the eastern part of the island of Tenerife in the Province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife, in the Canary Islands, Spain. The city is located on the coast, 17 km southwest of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The population is 25,140 (2010), and the area is 49.18 km².
Our Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura is a Marian shrine in Cáceres, Spain that traces its history to the medieval kingdom of Castile. The image is enshrined in the Monastery of Santa María de Guadalupe, in the Extremadura autonomous community of Spain, and is considered the most important Marian shrine in the country.
Our Lady of the Rosary, also known as Our Lady of the Holy Rosary, is a Marian title.
Our Lady of Manaoag is a Roman Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary venerated in Manaoag, Pangasinan, the Philippines. The sacred statue is referred to as Apo Baket in the native language of local devotees.
Mary, Help of Christians is a Catholic title of the Blessed Virgin Mary, based on a devotion now associated with a feast day of the General Roman Calendar on 24 May.
The Virgin of Candelaria or Our Lady of Candle (Tagalog: Mahal na Birhen ng Candelaria, popularly called La Morenita, celebrates the Virgin Mary on the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands. The center of worship is located in the city of Candelaria in Tenerife. She is depicted as a Black Madonna. The "Royal Basilica Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Candelaria" is considered the main church dedicated to the Virgin Mary in the Canary Islands and she is the patroness saint of the Canary Islands. Her feast is celebrated on February 2 and August 15, the patronal feast of the Canary Islands.
The Shrine of Our Lady of Bonaria also known as Our Lady of Fair Winds is a Marian title associated with the Blessed Virgin Mary as Star of the Sea and patron of sailboats. In addition, it is first associated with a Roman Catholic shrine to the Blessed Virgin Mary located in Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy).
The Basilica of the Royal Marian Shrine of Our Lady of Candelaria is a Roman Catholic minor basilica, the first Marian shrine of the Canary Islands, located in the municipality and city of Candelaria on the island of Tenerife. It is located some 20 km (12 mi) south of the island's capital, Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
The Basílica de Santa María la Real de Covadonga(English: Basilica of Holy Mary, the Queen of Covadonga) is a Catholic church located in Covadonga/Cuadonga, Cangas de Onís/Cangues d'Onís, Asturias, Spain, that was designated as a basilica on September 11, 1901.
Cueva de Achbinico, also called cave of San Blas is a Roman Catholic church and cave located in Candelaria, Tenerife, Canary Islands (Spain).
The Santa Cueva de Covadonga is a Catholic sanctuary located in Asturias, northern Spain. It is a cave in the Picos de Europa mountains, which gives its name to the parish of Covadonga in the municipality of Cangas de Onís. The name refers to the sanctuary, dedicated to the Virgin of Covadonga, where the first battle of the Reconquista took place in 718.
Our Lady of the Most Holy Rosary – La Naval de Manila is a venerated title of the Blessed Virgin Mary associated with the same image in the Philippines. Pious believers believe that the Virgin's intercession under this title helped to defeat the invading forces of the Protestant Dutch Republic during the Battles of La Naval de Manila in 1646.
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