Our Lady of Vendôme ( pt, Nossa Senhora de Vandoma), also known in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

as Our Lady of Porto or Our Lady of Porto of the Eternal Salvation, is a

title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify either generation, an official position, or a professional or academic qualification. In some languages, titles may be inserted between the f ...

of the

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 Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, of particular historical veneration in the city of

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, of which she is the patron saint. As a sign of this devotion, Our Lady of Vendôme features in the coat of arms of Porto.

History

The devotion to Our Lady of Vendôme has its origins in the period of the ''

Reconquista The ' (Spanish, Portuguese and Galician for "reconquest") is a historiographical construction describing the 781-year period in the history of the Iberian Peninsula between the Umayyad conquest of Hispania in 711 and the fall of the Nasrid ...

'', and is associated with an historical episode popularly known as the Army of the Gascons ( pt, Armada dos Gascões). Around the year 990, nobleman Munio Viegas led an army of knights from

Gascony Gascony (; french: Gascogne ; oc, Gasconha ; eu, Gaskoinia) was a province of the southwestern Kingdom of France that succeeded the Duchy of Gascony (602–1453). From the 17th century until the French Revolution (1789–1799), it was part o ...

that had disembarked on the mouth of the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

to fight the

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinct or ...

who at the time ruled

. With the knights came a French prelate, Nonegus (often referred to as a "Bishop of

Vendôme Vendôme (, ) is a Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Departments of France, department of Loir-et-Cher, France. It is also the department's third-biggest Communes of France, commune with 15,856 inhabitants (2019). It is one of the ...

", although that city was never the seat of an episcopal see) who had brought along a stone image of Our Lady that had originally been in the city of Vendôme. Following the Christian victory over the Moors, as an act of thanksgiving for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin in the battle, the city was dedicated to the Virgin Mary as ''Civitas Virginis'' (the city of the Virgin), and put under the

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of Our Lady of Vendôme. Munio Viegas and the Gascons are credited with having rebuilt the city walls: the image of Our Lady of Vendôme was placed over one of its main

gates Gates is the plural of gate, a point of entry to a space which is enclosed by walls. It may also refer to: People * Gates (surname), various people with the last name * Gates Brown (1939-2013), American Major League Baseball player * Gates McFadde ...

, which was christened the Door of Vendôme ( pt, Porta de Vandoma). The image was

venerated Veneration ( la, veneratio; el, τιμάω ), or veneration of saints, is the act of honoring a saint, a person who has been identified as having a high degree of sanctity or holiness. Angels are shown similar veneration in many religions. Etym ...

by the city's population throughout the centuries, and was particularly invoked during

epidemic An epidemic (from Ancient Greek, Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics ...

s. The original image of Our Lady of Vendôme is now in the Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady,

. The Door of Vendôme (which location shifted to the city centre as Porto grew through the centuries) was demolished in 1855.

References

{{Subject bar , portal1= Portugal , portal2= Catholicism , portal3= Christianity Titles of Mary History of Catholicism in Portugal