FESTA - OUR LADY OF PILLAR!

Our Lady of Pillar, Saragosa

The tradition tells us that seven years after the death of Jesus, on January 2, 40 A.D., The Apostle St. James the Elder, brother of St. John, sat tired and disappointed by the bank of the Ebro River in what is now Zaragoza, Spain. The people of the Roman province of Hispania (Spain/Iberian Peninsula) were not open and receptive to the Good News of Jesus and St. James was ready to give up his efforts to evangelize them. On that January day the Blessed Virgin Mary, still living in Palestine, appeared to James atop a column or pillar of stone. With encouraging words, she assured him that the people of Hispania would become Christians and that their faith would be as strong and durable as the pillar on which she stood. To remember the visit and promise of the Virgin Mary, the first Marian shrine was built around the pillar. And James began to convert the pagans of early Spain. (Excerpts from The Marian Page)

 

Inside the Basilica

MARIANIST CONNECTION

 View of the Basilica from the Ebro River

During the French Revolution Blessed William Joseph Chaminade was exiled in Spain in the city of Saragossa (Caesar Augustus) and he frequented the Church of Our Lady of the Pillar and prayed almost daily at the foot of her statue called Our Lady of the Pillar (Nuestra Senora del Pilar). This is the first sanctuary to have been dedicated to Mary.  There is a tradition that has been handed down that James the Greater, the brother of the Beloved Disciple, was in Saragossa but had few who responded to his preaching of the Gospel.  Only eight people surrounded him when Our Lady appeared on a pillar and told him to build a church there in her name.  She strengthened his faith and trust that people would enter the church and they did. They became strong in numbers and in their faith.  Blessed Chaminade some 1800 years later had a supernatural experience of being called by Mary to found the Marianist Family.  It is reported that he saw “in a twinkling of an eye” all who would become members of the Marianist Family.  St. John Vianney said about the Society of Mary that “it is a beautiful society and would last to the end of time and anyone who dies in it will be in heaven.”  John Vianney (1786-1859) was contemporaneous with Blessed Chaminade (1761-1850).  (taken from the homily of Fr.Bertrand Buby SM)

A moment of Prayer at the foot of Our Lady of Pillar

OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR

Feast day: October 12

Traditional date of apparition: January 2, 40 A.D.

Shrine church: This is the first church built in Mary's honor. The present basilica church was built between 1681 and 1961. The previous church was destroyed by fire in 1434. The frescoes were done by Francisco Goya in the early nineteenth century.

Statue: The statue atop the pillar of stone is about one foot in height and depicts the Virgin Mary with the Infant Jesus, who is holding a dove in his hand. The original statue was destroyed in the 1434 fire. The present statue dates from the mid-fifteenth century. Mantos are skirt-shaped cloaks that drape the pillar on which the statue stands. The use of mantos began in the early sixteenth century, and currently number about 300.

Significant miracle: During the Civil War of the 1930s, two aerial bombs were dropped on the shrine church, but neither exploded. Those bombs now hang on the shrine wall.

Patroness titles: Patroness of Spain, Patroness of All Hispanic Peoples--by declaration of Pope John Paul II in 1984.

Part of the Column that we can touch or kiss

(Excerpts from The Marian Page)

A street view of the Basilica

HAPPY FEAST DAY TO YOU ALL!

Compiled by Bro. Jinu Muthukattil SM