Our Lady of Europe () is a title given to the Blessed Virgin Mary as patroness of Gibraltar and protectress of Europe. The entire European continent was consecrated under the protection of Our Lady of Europe in the early 14th century from the Shrine in Gibraltar where devotion continues to this day, over 700 years on.
Together with Saint Bernard of Clairvaux, Our Lady is a Catholic patron saint of Gibraltar, and as such protector of the whole of Europe.
Background The peninsula now known as Gibraltar was at one time called Calpe. Gibraltar takes its name from the phrase Gibel Tarik, which means "the Mountain of Tarik", and commemorates the capture of the peninsula by Tarik Ibn Zayid in 710. Muslim troops built a fortress and a mosque at Europa Point at the southernmost part of Gibraltar, located just across from the North African coast.
Devotion in Gibraltar
Origins during the Spanish period In 1309, King Ferdinand IV of Castile took Gibraltar, driving the Muslim troops back across the strait to Africa. The King converted the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine. The Muslims again captured Gibraltar 24 years later in 1333. In 1462 King Henry IV recaptured Gibraltar and restored the devotion to Our Lady of Europe initiated by his grandfather, Ferdinand, once again transforming the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine.
Ceuta, on the southern shore of the Strait of Gibraltar, had been captured in 1415 by the Portuguese, under King John I. In 1421 the King's son, Henry the Navigator, sent a Holy Virgin's statue to Ceuta in order to consecrate Africa to the Blessed Virgin Mary under the invocation of Our Lady of Africa. That way, each of the two Pillars of Hercules was the site of a Marian shrine, consecrating both continents to Our Lady.Caruana, 2
A chapel was later built over the remains of the mosque and the whole area became known as the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (). A statue of the Virgin and Child was installed in there in the 15th century. The statue was quite small, only two feet in height, carved in wood and polychromed in royal red, blue and gold. The Virgin was seated in a simple chair, with the Child Jesus on her lap. Both were crowned and the Virgin held in her right hand a sceptre with three flowers denoting Love, Truth and Justice.
On September 10, 1540, Gibraltar suffered a raid by Barbarossa's Barbary corsairs. The Shrine was pillaged and the statue of Our Lady badly mutilated and broken into pieces. It was eventually restored in Seville and brought back to the Shrine.
The shrine prospered in fame and popularity, for well over two centuries. Ships passing through the Strait of Gibraltar saluted Our Lady as they passed Europa Point and mariners often came ashore with offerings for the shrine. Provision was made for a supply of oil to keep a lamp burning in the shrine tower (former minaret), thus making it a navigational beacon. Notable gifts include a silver lamp, given in 1568 by Giovanni Andrea Doria (great-nephew of the great Genoese admiral Andrea Doria), and two massive silver lamps presented by John of Austria, upon his victory at the Battle of Lepanto.
Alonso Hernández del Portillo, a councilor from Gibraltar during late 16th and early 17th century and first chronicler of the city, narrates in his Historia de la Muy Noble y Más Leal Ciudad de Gibraltar (1610–22) () the story of many other declared miracles attributed to Our Lady of Europe, one of them having been witnessed by himself. Another historian, Fray Jerónimo de la Concepción, in his work Cadiz Ilustrada (1690), also records many such miracles which occurred in Gibraltar.
One notable miracle was that of fisherman Luis Lecayo in 1633. He was caught in a heavy storm at night, thrown into the turbulent sea, and considered himself lost only praying to Our Lady of Europe for help. He survived and later gave his account of the claimed miracle to the Bishop of Cádiz, Domingo Cano de Haro, who promoted devotion to Our Lady within the Diocese of Cádiz.
A confraternity, the Confraternity of Our Lady of Europe (), was later established. A larger statue of Our Lady of Europe was specifically carved and enthroned in the town's central church, the Church of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard (, presently the Cathedral of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar).Caruana, 4 The confraternity was disestablished some time after 1704.Caruana, 5
The Capture of Gibraltar
In 1704, during the War of the Spanish Succession, Anglo-Dutch troops captured Gibraltar. The shrine, as most other Catholic places of worship was desecrated and was taken over for military use. The shrine was looted and the statue of the Virgin and Child was broken and its remains thrown out to sea. As the statue was carved from wood, the pieces were recovered by a fisherman who found them floating in the Bay of Gibraltar and later delivered them to Juan Romero de Figueroa, the priest in charge at the Church of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard, who took the pieces of the statue to Algeciras for safekeeping. They were placed in the Chapel of St. Bernard, which was then dedicated to Our Lady of Europe and named ().:
Consolidation during the British period
The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British. It lasted three years and seven months from 1779 to 1783 and caused great damage to the town. The old shrine was no exception, and this eventually led to its demolition. A replica of the statue had been made to replace the original, held in Algeciras. The copy was kept at the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned and St. Bernard, but when the church came under bombardment it relocated to Windmill Hill. After the end of the siege, the statue returned to the cathedral.Caruana, 9
In the early 1860s, the Vicar Apostolic of Gibraltar, John Baptist Scandella, petitioned for the return of the original statue from Algeciras. The Bishop of Cadiz and the Primate of Spain were involved in the discussions, and eventually a solution acceptable to all parties was agreed upon. The original statue was to return to Gibraltar as requested so long as an exact replica would be carved and placed in the Chapel of Our Lady of Europe in Algeciras. According to the terms of the compromise, a new statue was carved in Seville. At the same time the original statue repaired by the same craftsman. The original statue was eventually returned to Gibraltar in 1864.Caruana, 6
As the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained in military hands, the statue was provisionally placed in the Loreto Convent, at the time located in front of the governor's official residence in Main Street. Scandella aimed to house the statue as near to Europa Point as possible. After a popular fundraising campaign, a site was acquired along Engineer Road. The statue was paraded from the Loreto Convent to its new location in a procession lined on both sides by soldiers. The statue was carried shoulder-high on a bier, accompanied by a military band. The ceremony was devised as a reparation act for the 1704 desecration. The new chapel was of simple design and later included a marble altar donated by Pope Pius IX. Scandella attended the First Vatican Council (1869–1870) as Council Father. During his stay in Rome, Scandella succeeded in bringing the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe to the attention of the Pope, thus the donation of the altar. Its front piece depicted the Coat of arms of Pope Pius IX and that of Bishop Scandella, together with a monogram of Our Lady of Europe. The statue of Our Lady was enthroned on this altar.Caruana, 10 During World War II, the statue was returned to the cathedral for safekeeping. During this time, the Child, which had to be dressed in brocade silk according to the liturgical season, was replaced by a newly carved dressed Bambino sculptured by Francisco Moreira.Caruana, 12 After the war, the statue was once again relocated, this time to St. Joseph's Parish Church, the closest church to Europa Point.Caruana, 13
In the meantime, during the bishopric of Richard Joseph Fitzgerald, extensive developments in the Cathedral of St. Mary the Crowned were accomplished. Bishop Fitzgerald decided to replace the statue of Our Lady of Europe in order to make the two side-altars symmetrical. As the right altar had an upright statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, a similar statue was desired for the left one (where the old statue of Our Lady of Europe was placed). The new statue was manufactured in France, and put in the altar where the old statue stood, but the faithful never held it in the same esteem as the old one, which was stored away. In 1965, Charles Caruana (later Bishop of Gibraltar, then the priest responsible of the cathedral's sacristy) rediscovered the lost statue in a store. It was however, damaged due to humidity and an arm and hand had become detached. After restoration, the statue was placed in the Cathedral sacristy. It was Bishop Bernard Devlin who in 1986 reinstalled the statue in its original location, where it remains to this day.Caruana, 11
The building erected at the place of the old Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained property of the British Ministry of Defence until 1961. It had been an army storehouse for oil and packing case. Since 1928 it had been used as a library for the garrison, but with the outbreak of World War II, it was returned to a storage facility. By 1959, the military authorities, which had begun to withdraw many military installations in Gibraltar, noticed that it was no longer required and decided to demolish it. However, this never happened and due to the efforts of Bishop John Healy it was ceded to the Catholic diocese on 17 October 1961, in a private ceremony.Caruana, 16 Restoration works began in 1962. For the first time in 258 years, a mass was celebrated at the Shrine on 28 September 1962.Caruana, 17 The statue was finally transferred to the Shrine in public procession from St. Joseph's Parish Church on 7 October 1967.Caruana, 19 The statue of Our Lady remains in the Shrine to this day.
Bishop Edward Rapallo was responsible for making Our Lady of Europe the principal Patroness of Gibraltar and for changing the feast day to Europe Day (5 May). With regard to the former, he officially asked the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples to intercede for its petition with the Pope John Paul II. On 31 May 1979 the Pope approved "Our Blessed Lady as the Principal Patroness of the Diocese of Gibraltar, under the title of Our Lady of Europe". Regarding the feast day, by linking it with Europe Day, he aimed to highlight the relevance of Our Lady of Europe in modern times. The feast day had been celebrated on 15 August (the feast day of the Assumption of Mary) from Spanish times until Scandella's episcopate in the mid-19th century, when it was changed to 30 May. Authorisation for the celebration on 5 May was granted by the Holy See also in 1979.Caruana, 21
In 2002, on the occasion of his ad limina visit to Rome, Bishop Caruana took with him the statue of Our Lady of Europe, for the Pope John Paul II to bless and crown her. He also presented the Pope with a replica of the statue as a gift. Today, it can be found at the Casa Romana del Clero.
Since its establishment in 2003, the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe belongs to the European Marian Network, which links twenty Marian sanctuaries in Europe (as many as the number of decades in the Rosary).The European Marian Network
Septcentenary of the devotion to Our Lady of Europe