Our Lady of Valvanera
La Rioja, Spain (9th c.)
According to tradition, there was a thief named Nuno Onez, who was a hardened criminal and a “man of licentious life and dedicated to looting.” One day, however, upon hearing the prayer of a man who was to be his next victim, Nuno repented of his many crimes. An angel appeared to him to tell him to go to Valvanera and search for an oak with a fountain that gushed at its feet and surrounded by swarms of bees. There he would find an image of the Virgin Mary. Nuno went with a priest on the following Sunday, and found the image, just as the angel had said. In that place, he began to build a shrine that became known as the chapel of Santo Cristo. This small shrine is believed to have rise to the Valvanera monastery, where the Virgin is still venerated.
Text and image used with permission.
Source: "365 Days with Mary" by Michael O'Neill
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