Today, ninth November, Madrid celebrates the feast day of her patroness the Virgin of Almudena (Virgen de la Almudena).
The well-liked legend of the Almudena begins with the fearful inhabitants of then eighth century settlement of Magerit ( the identify given for in the present day´s Madrid) hiding the statue of the Virgin of Almudena earlier than the advancing Umayyad Arab and Berber armies reached them.
The Visigoth chronicle of 754 describes that the “Catholics across the years 712-714 who noticed that the Moors would conquer town and had been unable to hold the statue away with them. So they closed up the statue in that area of interest contained in the partitions of town in order that it might not be profaned by the Mohammedans.”
The legend has it that the statue was introduced from the Holy Land within the 12 months 38 by James ( Santiago) the apostle and brother of Jesus and like all relics and deemed holy objects was thought-about to have supernatural properties.
The identify Almudena derives from the Arabic phrases Almud which means wheat and Al Mudayna, which means wall – so it’s potential the unique marian apparition befell by a granary situated by the fortress.
The armies of the Umayyad Caliphate, had below Tariq ibn Ziyad, crossed the Straits of Gibraltar in 711 and quickly superior throughout the entire of the Iberian Peninsular, sweeping apart a big mixed Visigoth military below their king Roderick on the Battle of Guadelete in 712.
His dying there led to a speedy Visigoth collapse and the Moorish armies took the then capital of Toledo and the remaining Christian kingdoms fell shortly after.
The information of the defeat unfold as quick because the advancing Arab Berber armies and the inhabitants did certainly cover all Christian relics together with the statue which was sealed within the wall together with two lighted candles inside.
The Moorish armies arrived within the then settlement which they named Magerit and noticed its strategic significance which led to Muhammad I of Cordoba institution of a fortress Alcazar ( the current website of the Royal Palace) in round 850 earlier than including the Al-Mudayna wall to encompass it.
The actual location of the statue remained a intently guarded secret by the Christian inhabitants and handed down from era to era by phrase of mouth.
During this time the legend of the Almudena powers unfold all through these Christian lands which had resisted the Moorish advance.
After greater than 300 years the Christian reconquista below the Castilian king Alfonso VI retook the now a lot bigger city in 1013 as a part of his marketing campaign in opposition to the Taifa of Toledo which dominated a lot of central Spain together with the trendy day Madrid area.
The Christian king was decided to get better the statue and our story now turns to a bit of lady referred to as Maria whose mom had advised her the place the statue lay. Alas her mom had died by the point the king´s military had liberated the city and to her horror the little lady might not keep in mind the situation.
The King was greater than displeased and in a fury swore that he would tear down the partitions until the statue was discovered. All the inhabitants gathered and together with the king and the little lady implored divine intervention to disclose the statue to them. As the procession proceeded by the wall Maria let loose an unholy cry and simply at this second the a part of the wall which had sealed the statue for over 300 years fell – revealing not simply the statue however the two lighted candles…..which had been nonetheless burning.
In commemoration Alfonso re-consecrated the mosque because the church of the Virgin of Almudena which in the present day is the Cathedral of the identical identify. The current Cathedral was solely accomplished in 1993 and consecrated by Pope John Paul II.
The authentic 1st century statue has been misplaced to historical past although. The current one dates to the sixteenth.
Today the Feast Day of La Almudena is without doubt one of the capital’s most essential festivals and the identical procession winds its manner alongside the route of the lengthy gone metropolis partitions with a cease for an providing of flowers adopted by the solemn mass in her honour in entrance of the Cathedral´s doorways earlier than the statue of the Virgin herself is taken on a route that dates again to that day with Alfonso and a bit of lady referred to as Maria.
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