Apparition
Our Lady of the Pillar Appearing to Saint James at Zaragoza
Private revelation · Zaragoza (Caesaraugusta), Aragón, Spain, 40
An ancient Spanish tradition holds that while the Apostle James was preaching with little success on the banks of the Ebro at Caesaraugusta, the Blessed Virgin Mary — still living in Jerusalem — came to encourage him, standing upon a pillar of jasper, and asked that a chapel be raised on that spot. The pillar is venerated in the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, and the feast is kept on 12 October.
Background
This is a venerable tradition, not a juridically approved apparition: the Church has issued no decree on the event, and its earliest written attestations are many centuries later than the date it assigns. What the Church has approved is the cult — the liturgical feast, extended by Pope Innocent XIII in 1730 and now kept as a solemnity in Zaragoza and throughout Spain, and the canonical coronation of the image by Pope Saint Pius X in 1905. Our Lady of the Pillar is honoured as patroness of Hispanic peoples, and 12 October is the national feast of Spain.
Location
Zaragoza (Caesaraugusta), Aragón
Country
Spain
Approved status
Private revelation
Year of apparition
40
Visionaries
- Saint James the Greater, Apostle
Subject
marian
Feast day
October 12
Decision year
1730
Content subtype
unapproved_apparition
Decision authority
Pope Innocent XIII, who extended the liturgical veneration of Our Lady of the Pillar throughout the Spanish dominions