FEAST OF THE DAY
SATURDAY, 12 OCTOBER, 2024
OUR LADY OF THE PILLAR
The church of Our Lady of the Pillar was the first shrine ever raised in Our Lady's honor. It is a well-founded tradition and forms part of Zaragoza's (Spanish City) history and patriotism that our Lady appeared to the Apostle Saint James, patron of Spain.
This sacred image of our Lady of the Pillar, has escaped injury, the rituals of the Catholic Faith have been celebrated unceasingly in the chapel where Saint James first officiated, and its altars have never been defiled by pagan rites despite all the centuries of war, rampage, and desecration by the Romans, Goths, Moors, or Vandals. Even time, the great destroyer, has failed to leave its marks on the statue: Although nearly twenty centuries old, it shows not the slightest sign of deterioration.
After having preached the Gospel of our Divine Lord and Master in Judea and Samaria, Saint James traveled to Spain to spread the Faith there. He disembarked at Carthagena and started to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ. His simple eloquence won the hearts of the rude Iberians, who came flocking in large numbers to receive the Sacrament of Baptism from his hands. In Andalusia, Castile, Galicia, and Portugal he met with the same success, and so when he finally entered Zaragoza his fame had traveled before him, and the light of Faith spread quickly throughout the city.
On the night of the second of January, forty years after the birth of our Savior, Saint James was walking along the banks of the river Ebro with seven disciples whom he had won to the Faith in Zaragoza. The sky was aglow with myriads of stars, the toils of the day were over, both man and beast had gone to rest. Inspired by the calm beauty of the night and the contemplation of the glories of the Heavenly dome, in whose wonders they saw the Master's hand, they spoke reverently of the sublime mysteries of the Divinity. At the same hour the Blessed Virgin was in Jerusalem, praying to her Son for Saint James, who, she knew, would soon be called upon to give his life for the Faith.
While she prayed, her Divine Son appeared to her and, as the Venerable Mary of Agreda relates in her Mystical City of God, He commissioned her to go to Zaragoza: “As thou already knowest, it is necessary for My glory, that the Apostles labor with My grace, and that at the end they must follow Me to the cross and to the death I have suffered for the whole human race. The first one who is to imitate Me therein is My faithful servant James, and I will that he suffer martyrdom in this city of Jerusalem. In order that he come hither, and for other purposes of My glory and thine, I desire thee to visit him in Spain, where he is preaching My name. I desire, My Mother, that thou go to Zaragoza where he now is, and command him to return to Jerusalem. But before he leaves that city, he is to build a temple in thy name and title, where thou shalt be venerated and invoked for the welfare of that country, for My glory and pleasure, and that of the most Blessed Trinity.”
Later, according to the same Venerable Mary of Agreda, Our Lord added: “I give you My royal word that I shall look with special clemency and fill with blessings all those who, with devotion and humility, call upon Me through thy intercession in that temple. In thy hands have I deposited and consigned all My treasures; as My Mother, who holds My place and power, thou canst signalize that place by depositing therein the riches and promising in it thy favors; for all will be fulfilled according to thy will and pleasure.” Having spoken these words, He disappeared, and a band of angels, singing canticles of joy, filled the room. Raising Mary on their wings, they bore her through the air.
Saint James, near the banks of the Ebro, knelt in prayer with upturned face while his companions, fatigued with the labors of the day, had closed their heavy eyelids and, like the Apostles before them, slept while their master prayed. A flash of light suddenly lit up the fields, sounds of Heavenly music filled the air, and the seven disciples, roused from their slumbers, gazed with wonder and fear at the apparition before them. Seated on a throne of light, borne aloft by angels, was Mary, whom they supposed was in Jerusalem.
Angels knelt around her on transparent clouds while others, playing mystical harps, sang the sublime words with which, forty years before, the Archangel Gabriel had saluted her in her home in Nazareth, “Ave Maria Gratia plena, Dominus tecum.” Saint James, seeing this vision in ecstasy, saw the angels suspend the throne in front of him and place themselves before it. Mary, taking from the hands of the Seraphim a small column upon which stood a beautiful statue of herself with the Infant Jesus in her arms, showed it to Saint James, gave him her blessing, and said, “James, servant of the Most High, blessed be thou by Him, and may He fill thee with His Divine Grace.”
PATRON: Patroness of Spain, Patroness of All Hispanic Peoples--by declaration of Pope John Paul II in 1984.