Our Lady of the Pillar

Today, 12th October, is the day of Our Lady of the Pillar and she is the patroness of Spain, the Hispanic peoples, and the Spanist Civil Guard.

According to tradition, on January 2, 40 AD, in the early days of the Church, James the Grater, one of the original Twelve Apostles of Jesus Christ, was evangelizing the Gospel in what was then the pagan land of Caesaraugusta, now Zaragoza. He was disheartened with his mission, making little progress having only few converts who had been traveling with him. In his despair, while praying by the banks of Ebro River, Mother Mary miraculoously appeared before him and his group, comforting him and promised to help. Mary gave him a column or pillar as a symbol, being carried by angels with an image of the Mother on top. James was instructed to build a chapel on the spot where Mary left the pillar, so thay the grace of God, will marvel those whoe believed and asked in their hour of need. James returned to Jerusalem after establishing the church in Zaragoza and war ordered beheaded in 44 AD by King Herog Agrippa I. The land he leftt eventually became believers of Christ through the works of the disciples.