:''See
Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Buenos Aires)
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Recoleta, Buenos Aires was built as part of the Franciscan monastery, completed in 1732 and dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar
Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name giv ...
for the church in Buenos Aires''
The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Catedral-Basílica de
Nuestra Señora del Pilar
Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 4 ...
) is a
Roman Catholic church in the city of
Zaragoza,
Aragon
Aragon ( , ; Spanish and an, Aragón ; ca, Aragó ) is an autonomous community in Spain, coextensive with the medieval Kingdom of Aragon. In northeastern Spain, the Aragonese autonomous community comprises three provinces (from north to sou ...
(Spain). The basilica venerates
Blessed Virgin Mary
Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...
, under her title
Our Lady of the Pillar
Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is the name given to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the context of the traditional belief that Mary, while living in Jerusalem, supernaturally appeared to the Apostle James the Greater in AD 4 ...
praised as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" by
Pope John Paul II.
[Fr. Tommy Lan]
Homily during a pilgrimage to Zaragoza, Spain
on Bible, Prayer, Homily resources website. It is reputed to be the first
church dedicated to Mary in history.
Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the
spread of Christianity
Christianity began as a Second Temple Judaic sect in the 1st century in the Roman province of Judea, from where it spread throughout and beyond the Roman Empire.
Origins
Christianity "emerged as a sect of Judaism in Roman Palestine" in the syn ...
in
Roman Spain attributing to an
apparition to Saint
James the Great, the
apostle who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country.
[Our Lady of the Pillar](_blank)
on The work of God website on various apparitions of Mary. This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before her believed
Assumption.
Many of the kings of Spain, many other foreign rulers and saints have paid their devotion before this statue of Mary. Saint
John of the Cross, Saint
Teresa of Ávila, Saint
Ignatius of Loyola, and Blessed
William Joseph Chaminade are among the foremost ones.
The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is one of two minor
basilicas in the city of Zaragoza, and is co-cathedral of the city alongside the nearby
La Seo de Zaragoza. The architecture is of
Baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.
History
Apparition of ''Pilar''
According to ancient local tradition, soon after the
crucifixion and
resurrection of Jesus, Saint James was preaching the
Gospel in Spain, but was disheartened because of the failure of his mission.
Tradition holds that on 2 January 40 AD,
while he was deep in prayer by the banks of the
Ebro,
the
Mother of God appeared to him and gave a column of
jasper and instructed him to build a church in her honor:
"This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build."
First chapel
About a year after the apparition, James is believed to have had a small chapel built in Mary's honor, the first church ever dedicated to her. After James returned to Jerusalem, he was executed by
Herod Agrippa in about 44 AD, the first apostle to be martyred for his faith. Several of his disciples took his body and returned it for final burial in Spain.
This first chapel was eventually destroyed with various other Christian shrines, but the statue and the pillar stayed intact under the protection of the people of Zaragoza.
[Zsolt Aradi]
The Virgen Del Pilar
on Catholic culture.
Expansions
Romanesque church
Numerous churches have been built upon this site through the years. The tiny chapel built by Saint James later gave way to a basilicalike enclosure during
Constantine I
Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to convert to Christianity. Born in Naissus, Dacia Mediterranea ...
's time; subsequently being transformed into
Romanesque, then
Gothic then
Mudéjar styles.
[Juan Antonio Gracia Gimeno. ''The Pillar of Saragossa'' Editorial Escudo de Ora. S.A., ] The venerated shrines at Zaragoza date to the Christian
Reconquest by
King Alfonso I in 1118. A church in the Romanesque style was built under the pontificate of Pedro de Librana
who is also credited with the oldest written testimonial to the Virgin at Zaragoza.
A
tympanum on the south wall of this Romanesque church still stands.
Gothic church
The Romanesque church was damaged by fire in 1434, and reconstruction began in the Mudéjar Gothic style.
A Gothic-style church was built in the 15th century but only a few parts of it remain intact or were later restored, including the choir stand and the
altarpiece
An altarpiece is an artwork such as a painting, sculpture or relief representing a religious subject made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting o ...
in
alabaster by
Damián Forment.
Current church
The present spacious church in
Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
style was begun in 1681
by
Charles II, King of Spain and completed in 1686.
The early constructions were supervised by Felipe Sanchez
and were later modified by
Francisco Herrera the Younger
Francisco Herrera the Younger ("el Mozo"; 1622 – 25 August 1685) was a Spanish painter and architect.
Life
Born in Seville, he was the second son of Francisco Herrera the Elder ("el Viejo"), and began his career under his father's instru ...
under
John of Austria the Younger. In 1725, the Cabildo of Zaragoza decided to change the aspect of the Holy Chapel and commissioned the architect
Ventura Rodríguez, who transformed the building into its present dimensions of 130 meters long by 67 wide, with its eleven cupolas and four towers. The area most visited is the eastern part of the chapel, because this is where the Holy Chapel by Ventura Rodríguez (1754) is built, which houses the venerated image of the Virgin. Around the Holy Chapel are the
vaults or
dome
A dome () is an architectural element similar to the hollow upper half of a sphere. There is significant overlap with the term cupola, which may also refer to a dome or a structure on top of a dome. The precise definition of a dome has been a m ...
s painted with frescoes by
Francisco Goya: ''The Queen of Martyrs'' and ''
Adoration of the Name of God
The ''Adoration of the Name of God'' ( es, Adoración del nombre de Dios) or ''The Glory'' ( es, La gloria) (1772) is a fresco painted by Francisco Goya on the ceiling of the cupola over the Small Choir of the Virgin in the Basílica de Nuestra ...
''.
[ The gilding and other ornamentation throughout the building were designed and overseen by Goya's father José.][Connell, Evan S., Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. ] By 1718 the church had been vaulted over. However, it was not until 1872 that the final touches were put to these vaults, when the main dome and the final spire were finished.
During the Spanish Civil War of 1936–1939 three bombs were dropped on the church but none of them exploded. Two of them are still on show in the basilica.
Notable choirmasters include the Baroque
The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...
composer Joseph Ruiz Samaniego Joseph Ruiz Samaniego (fl. 1654-1670) was ''maestro de capilla'' at the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza
Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city ...
.
Pillar and the image
The statue is wooden and 39 cm tall and rests on a column of jasper.
The tradition of the shrine of El Pilar, as given by Our Lady in an apparition to Sister Mary Agreda and written about in '' Mystical City of God'', is that Our Lady was carried on a cloud by the angels to Zaragoza during the night. While they were traveling, the angels built a pillar of marble, and a miniature image of Our Lady. Our Lady gave the message to St James and added that a church was to be built on the site where the apparition took place. The pillar and the image were to be part of the main altar. The image was crowned in 1905 with a crown designed by the Marquis of Griñi, and valued at 450,000 pesetas (£18,750, 1910).[Nuestra Señora Del Pilar](_blank)
on Catholic encylopedeia.
Layout
The building, which can be seen from the nearby Ebro River, is a large rectangle with a nave and two aisles, with two other all-brick chapels, thus giving the whole a typically Aragonese touch. It is illuminated by large oculi, characteristic of the monuments of the region from the 17th century onwards. Twelve enormous pillars support the vaults of the nave and aisles; the whole is topped by domes, as are the chapels.
The chapels within the basilica include:
*Chapel of the Rosary
The Rosary (; la, , in the sense of "crown of roses" or "garland of roses"), also known as the Dominican Rosary, or simply the Rosary, refers to a set of prayers used primarily in the Catholic Church, and to the physical string of knots or b ...
*Chapel of Joachim
Joachim (; ''Yəhōyāqīm'', "he whom Yahweh has set up"; ; ) was, according to Christian tradition, the husband of Saint Anne and the father of Mary, the mother of Jesus. The story of Joachim and Anne first appears in the Biblical apocryphal ...
*Chapel of Saint Lawrence
Saint Lawrence or Laurence ( la, Laurentius, lit. "Laurel wreath, laurelled"; 31 December AD 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the Persecution of Christians, perse ...
(Lorenzo)
*Chapel of Saint Pedro de Arbués
*Chapel of Saint Braulio
Braulio ( la, Braulius Caesaraugustanus; 585 – 651 AD) was bishop of Zaragoza and a learned cleric living in the Kingdom of the Visigoths.
Life
Braulio was born of a noble Hispano-Roman family. His father was Bishop of Osma. In 610 Braulio be ...
*Chapel of Saint Anthony
*Chapel of Saint Joseph
Joseph (; el, Ἰωσήφ, translit=Ioséph) was a 1st-century Jewish man of Nazareth who, according to the canonical Gospels, was married to Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus. The Gospels also name some brothers of ...
*Chapel of Saint Anna
*Chapel of Saint John
Organ and music
The first organ was built in 1463 by Enrique de Colonia
Enrique () is the Spanish variant of the given name Heinrich of Germanic origin.
Equivalents in other languages are Henry (English), Enric (Catalan), Enrico (Italian), Henrik (Swedish, Danish, and Norwegian), Heinrich (German), Hendrik, Henk ...
. In 1537, Martín de Córdoba built another organ
Organ may refer to:
Biology
* Organ (biology), a part of an organism
Musical instruments
* Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone
** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument
** Hammond ...
with the intent to compete with the one at the La Seo
The Cathedral of the Savior ( es, Catedral del Salvador) or La Seo de Zaragoza is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is part of the World Heritage Site ''Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon''.
The cathedral is located on th ...
.
Guillermo de Lupe
Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People
*Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanish football manager and former player
*Guillermo Ar ...
and his son Gaudioso restructured the larger organ between 1595 and 1602; he had done the same for an organ in the Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza in 1577.
In 1657, there were several organs in the church, of many sizes and offering many possibilities. As a result, the musical activity reached a peak in the Spanish Golden Age
The Spanish Golden Age ( es, Siglo de Oro, links=no , "Golden Century") is a period of flourishing in arts and literature in Spain, coinciding with the political rise of the Spanish Empire under the Catholic Monarchs of Spain and the Spanish H ...
; however, it began to decline toward the end of the 19th century.
In the Middle Ages, a minstrel accompanied singers with a dulcian. Polyphony in the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was first documented in the mid-17th century, played by a "tenor" and a "contrabajón". In the late 1600s, an orchestra composed of minstrels agreed to work for the Church of Santa María la Mayor, the predecessor of the cathedral-basilica.
El Pilar and Spanish identity
The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, celebrating the first apparition of Mary to Hispanic people, is on October 12. This coincides with the Día de la Hispanidad
Columbus Day is a national holiday in many countries of the Americas and elsewhere, and a federal holiday in the United States, which officially celebrates the anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas on October 12, 1492.
...
and the date of Columbus's discovery of the New World. Every nation of Hispanic colonial origin has donated national vestments for the fifteenth-century statue of the Virgin, which is housed in the chapel. Pope John Paul II praised El Pilar as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" during both his visits to the basilica.
It was declared '' Bien de Interés Cultural'' in 1904.
See also
* Marian apparitions
* Roman Catholic Marian churches
*12 Treasures of Spain
The 12 Treasures of Spain ( es, 12 Tesoros de España) was a project that selected the purported "Twelve Treasures of the Spain, Kingdom of Spain". The contest was conducted by broadcasters Antena 3 (Spain), Antena 3 and Cadena COPE, COPE. The fin ...
* List of Bien de Interés Cultural in the Province of Zaragoza
A ''list'' is any set of items in a row. List or lists may also refer to:
People
* List (surname)
Organizations
* List College, an undergraduate division of the Jewish Theological Seminary of America
* SC Germania List, German rugby union ...
References
* ANSÓN NAVARRO, Arturo y Belén Boloqui Larraya, «Zaragoza Barroca», en Guillermo Fatás Cabeza
Guillermo () is the Spanish form of the male given name William. The name is also commonly shortened to 'Guille' or, in Latin America, to nickname 'Memo'. People
*Guillermo Amor (born 1967), Spanish football manager and former player
*Guillermo Ar ...
(coord.), ''Guía histórico-artística de Zaragoza'', Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico»; Ayto. de Zaragoza, 2008, 4.ª ed. revisada y ampliada, págs. 249–327. ''Cfr.'' especialmente la sección «Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar», págs. 287–322.— .
«El Pilar»
''Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa'' (en línea). onsulta:22-7-2008/nowiki>
* NOUGUÉS SECALL, Mariano
''Historia crítica y apologética de la Virgen nuestra señora del Pilar de Zaragoza y de su templo y tabernáculo desde el siglo I hasta nuestros días''
Madrid, Alejandro Gómez Fuentenebro, 1862.
* ORTIZ ALBERO, Miguel Ángel, Julián Pelegrín Campo y María Pilar Rivero Gracia, ''El Pilar desconocido'', Zaragoza, Heraldo de Aragón, 2006, pág. 13.—D. L. Z-2597-06.
* RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wifredo, ''El Pilar de Zaragoza'', Zaragoza, Everest, 2000. .
* RISCO, Manuel
''España Sagrada, t. XXX. Contiene el estado antiguo de la Santa Iglesia de Zaragoza [...
/nowiki> y una colección de las epístolas de San Braulio ..">''España Sagrada, t. XXX. Contiene el estado antiguo de la Santa Iglesia de Zaragoza [...
/nowiki> y una colección de las epístolas de San Braulio
Basilica churches in Spain">Our Lady of the Pillar, Zaragoza
Zaragoza, Our Lady of the Pillar
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1686
Roman Catholic churches completed in 1961
19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain
Church buildings with domes
Shrines to the Virgin Mary
Tourist attractions in Zaragoza
Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Zaragoza
Baroque architecture in Aragon
Cultural tourism in Spain
17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain