Our Lady of Vendôme ( pt, Nossa Senhora de Vandoma), also known in Brazil as Our Lady of Porto or Our Lady of Porto of the Eternal Salvation, is a title of the

Blessed Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jews, Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Jose ...

, of particular historical veneration in the city of

Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...

, Portugal, of which she is the patron saint. As a sign of this devotion, Our Lady of Vendôme features in the coat of arms of Porto.

History

The devotion to Our Lady of Vendôme has its origins in the period of the '' Reconquista'', and is associated with an historical episode popularly known as the Army of the Gascons ( pt, Armada dos Gascões). Around the year

990 Year 990 ( CMXC) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Al-Mansur, ''de facto'' ruler of Al-Andalus, conquers the Castle of Montemor-o-Velho (mode ...

, nobleman Munio Viegas led an army of knights from Gascony that had disembarked on the mouth of the

Douro River The Douro (, , ; es, Duero ; la, Durius) is the highest-flow river of the Iberian Peninsula. It rises near Duruelo de la Sierra in Soria Province, central Spain, meanders south briefly then flows generally west through the north-west part of ...

to fight the Moors who at the time ruled

. With the knights came a French prelate, Nonegus (often referred to as a "Bishop of Vendôme", although that city was never the seat of an episcopal see) who had brought along a stone image of Our Lady that had originally been in the city of Vendôme. Following the Christian victory over the Moors, as an act of thanksgiving for the intercession of the Blessed Virgin in the battle, the city was dedicated to the Virgin Mary as ''Civitas Virginis'' (the city of the Virgin), and put under the patronage of Our Lady of Vendôme. Munio Viegas and the Gascons are credited with having rebuilt the city walls: the image of Our Lady of Vendôme was placed over one of its main gates, which was christened the Door of Vendôme ( pt, Porta de Vandoma). The image was venerated by the city's population throughout the centuries, and was particularly invoked during

epidemic An epidemic (from Greek ἐπί ''epi'' "upon or above" and δῆμος ''demos'' "people") is the rapid spread of disease to a large number of patients among a given population within an area in a short period of time. Epidemics of infectious d ...

s. The original image of Our Lady of Vendôme is now in the

Cathedral of the Assumption of Our Lady A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...

. The Door of Vendôme (which location shifted to the city centre as Porto grew through the centuries) was demolished in 1855.

References

{{Subject bar , portal1= Portugal , portal2= Catholicism , portal3= Christianity Titles of Mary History of Catholicism in Portugal