Virgin of Almudena
Madrid, Spain (15th c.)
One account of the image’s origin dates to 712, before an attack on Madrid by the Arabs, when the inhabitants of the town boarded up an image of the Virgin in a wall to conceal it. With the re-conquest of the city in the eleventh century by King Alfonso VI, a search began to find the hidden image.
After days of prayers, and as the procession passed through the Cuesta de la Vega, a fragment of the wall fell, showing the image, which remained intact and the two candles that had been lit despite being walled for centuries.
Another tradition says that the Castilian hero Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, El Cid, received a vision of the Virgin. He broke down the wall where the figure was, and brought it to the city.
Text and image used with permission.
Source: "365 Days with Mary" by Michael O'Neill
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