The Virgin of Miracles or Saint Mary of La Rábida (Spanish: Virgen de los Milagros or Santa María de la Rábida) is a religious Roman Catholic image venerated at the La Rabida Monastery in the city of Palos de la Frontera (Huelva, Spain). The image is in Gothic style, from approximately the 13th century, carved in alabaster. It was an exceptional witness to the historic events of the Discovery of the Americas. Before it, prayed men like Columbus, The Pinzon Brothers, and the men who participated in the first expeditions of Columbus and in subsequent ones that departed to the Americas from this zone. Likewise, in their visits to the Franciscan monastery, many prostrated themselves, among others, Hernán Cortés, Gonzalo de Sandoval (who died in the monastery and was buried in it) and Francisco Pizarro. Although it was dated towards the late 13th century or the early 14th century, included in the popular tradition and the legends is an ancient codex of 1714 from Fray Felipe de Santiago; it has been given an apostolic origin and some notable incarnations, like her apparition in the sea after the completion of the Umayyad conquest of Hispania among the nets of some fishermen from Huelva. The image is a patron of both the monastery and the city of Palos de la Frontera, in which several diverse religious and civil acts are celebrated in the month of August in its honor culminating with the typical Andalusian romeria celebrated in the environment of La Rábida in the last weekend of that month. Because of the various vicissitudes suffered by the image it has been repaired and restored on various occasions, however the carving largely conserves the original work. On June 14, 1993, it was crowned by the Pope John Paul II, who named it «Mother of Spain and the Americas (Spanish: Madre de España y América)». The Godparents of honor for the coronation were the kings of Spain, who delegated to their daughter, Infanta Cristina. In the acts of this celebration she was also named, in part through the town hall. «Perpetual Honorary Mayor of Palos de la Frontera (Spanish: Alcaldesa Honoraria Perpetua de Palos de la Frontera)».
The image and La Rábida
Description The Image is a sculpture representative of the Virgin Mary built in alabaster, it stands 54 centimeters tall. The body of the sculpture is one piece, although with some minor attachments in the posterior due to some imperfections suffered during its history; it rests atop a 5 centimeter pedestal with elongated lines. Its face is also elongated with the hair combed naturally, and the hands a bit exaggerated with respect to the body. The dress is carved to resemble a tunic with a modest neckline which descends in parallel folds, regular and well carved, until it reaches the pedestal, where a glimpse of the right foot covered with a typical shoe is visible. The head is covered with a cloak which falls over the body a bit rigidly, and over her left arm which holds the baby Jesus in an upright posture with his right arm placed in the typical position for blessing in the old Greek manner and his left arm holding what resembles a globe, like the virgin he is dressed in a clinging tunic. It has a unique form of shifting the hips to sustain the baby in its left arm, which is characteristic of the type of sculpture to which it belongs. In her right arm the Virgin carries a Pomegranate, placed there in a restoration done in 1937, after the damage suffered during the Spanish Civil War, and which replaced the Lilium she initially held. As an exterior adornment the image ports an aureola with an oval structure, something rare among images of the Virgin. The decoration itself is composed of a frame containing the enameled coat of arms of the primary countries of the Americas, and in the top-center is the coat of arms of Spain, the set is accentuated with alternating smooth and wavy beveled rays. It was created by Manuel Seco de Velasco and designed by Evaristo Domínguez, a painter from Palos de la Frontera.
Dating and style Following the Byzantine art period of the late 13th century or early 14th century, the iconography of the model corresponds to the Hodegetria style (depicting Mary holding the Child Jesus as the source of salvation) developed in the Gothic period. The style is undoubtedly Gothic, specifically French-Gothic, different authors also point towards a possible inspiration from the school of Gothic Pyrenean-Aragonese-Navarro, and it could even belong to the Gothic Mannerism or to Gothic Normandy. Examples of this type of imagery and of similar style, can be found in the "Capilla de los Alabastros" in the Seville Cathedral or in Church of San Lorenzo of the same city. Also at Palos de la Frontera, in the Parish of San Jorge there is an Image of Santa Ana sculpted in the same material. The father Ángel Ortega points out in his work that the ancient image of the Virgin of la Hiniesta de Gloria (lost in a 1932 fire) of the parish of San Julián de Sevilla, could have been a contemporary or even have served as a model.
For centuries, the sculpture was polychrome, dressed in fine clothing, and adorned with precious stones according to all the various reports made on its restorations, wills, documentation, and engravings stored at the monastery and at the archives of the French order in the Provincia Beltica. The custom of dressing the image was very deeply rooted during the Middle Ages and among the most famous were the Our Lady of Guadalupe found in Cáceres, Spain, which received exquisite dresses at the hands of her adherents, a tradition still practiced and conserved in some of the local images of the area. Finally after the restoration done in 1937, it was decided to eliminate the polychrome from the image and in 1938 it was returned back to her monastery in the original form in which it was sculpted.
La Rabida Monastery
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