Our Lady of Pilar
It is celebrated on October 12, Hispanic Day
Once the apostle Santiago finished his preaching in Galicia (Spain), he went to Zaragoza, where he ran many dangers. One night, Santiago was praying intensely with some disciples by the Ebro river, near the city walls, asking for light to know if he should stay in Zaragoza or flee. He thought of Mary Most Holy and asked her to pray with him to ask for advice and help from her divine Son, her Jesus, who could then deny her nothing. Suddenly, a light from heaven was seen coming over the apostle and angels appeared above him, singing a very harmonious song while bringing a column of light, whose foot, in the midst of a luminous ray, pointed to a place, a few steps from the apostle. apostle, as indicating a certain place.
Above the column, the Virgin Mary appeared to him. Santiago got up from the place where he was praying on his knees, and internally he received a warning from Maria that he should immediately erect a church there; that Mary’s intercession was to grow like a root and expand. Mary promised him: “I will remain in this place until the end of time so that the virtue of God works portents and wonders through my intercession with those who in their needs implore my patronage.”
Mary told him that, once the church was finished, he should return to Jerusalem. Santiago got up, called the disciples who were with him, who had heard the music and seen the light; he told them the rest, and then they all witnessed how the light of the apparition faded. In the place of the apparition, the first church dedicated to the Virgin Mary was built, what is now the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, a place of pilgrimage famous throughout the world that was not destroyed in the Spanish civil war (1936). -1939), since the bombs that were dropped on the temple did not explode, and can now be seen on display inside the Basilica.
Sacred Scripture speaks of the column that guided the people of God during their exile to the promised land. That column must be for us this Pillar of Zaragoza, who has received through the centuries, the faith of our fathers and who has protected those who have turned to her, to Mary.
We pray in the Lauds hymn of this feast: “Holy Mary of the Pillar, hear our prayer, as we celebrate your feast, Mother of God and Mother of men, Queen and Lady. You, the joy and honor of the people, are sweetness and our hope: from your throne, look, guard, sail, Mother of Spain. Tree of life, which you gave us Christ, blessed fruit of your virgin womb, come with us until we arrive, with you at the port”.
And the hymn of Vespers summarizes the desires that all Spanish Christians and from all over the world, who today celebrate the feast of Our Lady of Pilar, should try to live throughout their lives:
“That column, on which your little image rests, raises its plants, rises to heaven: bridge, ladder, guide, of pilgrims. The generations sing your glories, they all call you blessed, the firm rock, next to the Ebro stands tall, spend with kisses. Open your virginal arms, mother, turn your merciful eyes, spread your mantle, that we welcome, under your protection “.
The truth is that since ancient times the Virgin Mary of Pilar has been venerated in this place in Zaragoza (Spain) and that since ancient times a simple chapel was also built in her honour, which over time gave rise to the sumptuous Marian temple where Today it receives visits from all Christians who come from all over the world. And there is no doubt that it is the Temple of the race, the one that marks the milestones through which faith moves in Spain and in the towns that from the Spanish received the faith of Jesus Christ and the love towards his Mother.
It always has people, coming from all parts of Spain and even beyond, to venerate this sacred place where Mary, the Mother, the Lady resides, always with open arms and hearts to bless, protect, and comfort. Not only on October 12, when her feast is celebrated, but every day thousands of hearts prostrate before her in this privileged place of prayer, receiving the sacraments, and living our faith.
Among the great prodigies wrought by him, two stand out: The one that occurred in 1640 with Miguel Juan Pellicer, a resident of Calanda (Spain) to whom he restored his healthy leg after it had been amputated years before. Another miracle is more recent: On August 3, 1936, the enemies of the faith in Spain dropped three bombs on the temple. One fell in front of the Basilica that did not cause any damage and the other two fell on the Holy Chapel itself, without exploding.
The apparition of the Virgen del Pilar in Zaragoza is the first Marian apparition in history.
Next, I present to you part of a text written by the Marianist religious Father José María Salaverri:
“How small you are, but what a big influence you have!” John Paul II said in one of his visits to the Virgin of the Column. And so it is indeed. The 36cm. of the image of the Virgen del Pilar, on a 1.70 m. jasper column, seem to be the living material expression of the Magnificat: “she has looked at the smallness of her servant… she has done great things for me”.
In the liturgy of October 12, verses 12-14 of chapter 1 of the Acts of the Apostles can be read as the first reading of the Mass. After listing the eleven apostles, Luke tells us that they were in prayer with “Mary, the mother of Jesus.” Apparently discreet presence, in the background. Mary, simple, as if lost among apostles, male and female disciples, but what strength emanates from those words! Like a seed that germinates and bears abundant fruit. John Paul II says:
“I fervently thank God for the unique presence of Mary in this Spanish land where she has produced so many fruits.”
And the gospel is also short and meaningful: a woman who raises her voice declaring the womb and breasts of the mother of Jesus happy. And the same Jesus who replies: “Better: blessed are those who listen to the Word of God and fulfill it!” Praise that applies in the first place and fully to Mary, the “blessed for having believed”; but she that she feels even happier to be able to “give” to all that Jesus conceived in her womb and fed at her breasts.
María del Pilar, at her party on October 12, 1492, becomes the prow of a missionary ship. It is she who seems to give her son a new world, through Columbus and his sailors, aboard three caravels, whose captain is called the Santa María. That is why John Paul II stops in Zaragoza on October 10, 1984, on his way to Santo Domingo to inaugurate the novena of years that will prepare the celebration of the arrival of Christianity on American soil. The Pope says:
“The apostolic dimension of the Church in all its splendor shines here in the firm and ancient tradition of the Pillar (…) The faith that the Spanish missionaries brought to Latin America is an apostolic faith inherited from the faith of the apostles, according to the venerable tradition that here next to the Pillar he has his seat”.
The column on which the fragile image of the Virgin stands firm and upright is loaded with symbolism. It evokes the column of fire that, at night, guided the Israelites through the desert. “Splendid lighthouse”, the hymn to the Virgen del Pilar calls it, that is, the one who, on the dark nights of Christians, keeps the light of faith alive. The column also evokes the solidity of the Church building, always persecuted, but always standing, maintaining the hope of the one who, as the hymn also says, “embraces your Pillar”, Virgin Mary. The hymn also tells us that this pillar has been a “rich present of charity” of God’s love, which never abandons his people in difficult times.
The opening prayer for the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar is a masterpiece of synthesis: rich theological content and simple prayer:
Almighty and everlasting God,
that in the glorious Mother of your Son
you have granted a heavenly shelter
to those who invoke her with the age-old invocation of the Pillar,
grant us, through her intercession, strength in faith,
safety in hope and constancy in love.
Countless have been those who have received, from María del Pilar, strength in faith. In imitation of the virgin Engracia and hers, 18 martyr companions of hers, strong in faith in the persecution of Diocletian, in the year 304, suffering with integrity the most atrocious ordeals to keep intact the faith of her baptism.
Countless have been those who have received, from María del Pilar, security in hope. Like that exiled from the French Revolution, Blessed Guillermo José Chaminade, who spent three years at the foot of El Pilar from 1797 to 1800, secure in the hope of a Christian revival in his homeland. To ensure it, the Virgen del Pilar inspires her Marianist foundations to renew the faith of the youth of her country and the world. And her sons and her daughters, grateful, have carried her name, her image and her devotion to the whole world.
Countless have been those who have received, from María del Pilar, the constancy in love. Like that young 23-year-old woman, María Rafols, who arrived in Zaragoza in 1804, ready to serve the poor and sick with a group of companions: the Daughters of Charity of Santa Ana. During the two sieges of Zaragoza, in the midst of War of Independence, she deserves to be declared a “heroine of charity” by the city of Zaragoza.
Faith, hope and love the Virgin distributes from her Pilar, from her watchtower in Zaragoza. With good reason, Pope John Paul finished his prayer to the Virgin:
“Holy Virgin of Pilar: increase our faith, consolidate our hope, enliven our charity… Encourage in young people the availability for a full dedication to God. Protect the whole of Spain and its peoples, its men and women. And assist motherly, oh Mary, to those who invoke you as patron saint of Hispanity.”
Text of the hymn to the Virgen del Pilar
Holy Virgin, my mother
beautiful light, clear day
that the land, Aragonese
you deigned to visit.
This town that adores you,
of your love please implore
and acclaims you and blesses you
embracing your Pilar.
Sacred pillar, resplendent beacon,
rich charity present.
Blessed pillar, throne of glory,
You will lead us to victory.
sing, sing
hymns of honor and praise
to the Virgin of the Pillar.
Hymn sung to the Virgen del Pilar
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