:''See Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Buenos Aires) for the church in Buenos Aires'' The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar ( es, Catedral-Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is a

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD * Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...

church in the city of

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

, Aragon (Spain). The basilica venerates

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 ...

, under her title Our Lady of the Pillar praised as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" by

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II ( la, Ioannes Paulus II; it, Giovanni Paolo II; pl, Jan Paweł II; born Karol Józef Wojtyła ; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was the head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 1978 until his ...

.Fr. Tommy Lan
Homily during a pilgrimage to Zaragoza, Spain
on Bible, Prayer, Homily resources website. It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history. Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the spread of Christianity in

Roman Spain Hispania ( la, Hispānia , ; nearly identically pronounced in Spanish, Portuguese, Catalan, and Italian) was the Roman name for the Iberian Peninsula and its provinces. Under the Roman Republic, Hispania was divided into two provinces: Hispania ...

attributing to an apparition to Saint

James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

, the

apostle An apostle (), in its literal sense, is an emissary, from Ancient Greek ἀπόστολος (''apóstolos''), literally "one who is sent off", from the verb ἀποστέλλειν (''apostéllein''), "to send off". The purpose of such sending ...

who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country.Our Lady of the Pillar
on The work of God website on various apparitions of Mary. This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before her believed

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Tow ...

. Many of the kings of Spain, many other foreign rulers and saints have paid their devotion before this statue of Mary. Saint

John of the Cross John of the Cross, OCD ( es, link=no, Juan de la Cruz; la, Ioannes a Cruce; born Juan de Yepes y Álvarez; 24 June 1542 – 14 December 1591) was a Spanish Catholic priest, mystic, and a Carmelite friar of converso origin. He is a major figu ...

, Saint

Teresa of Ávila Teresa of Ávila, OCD (born Teresa Sánchez de Cepeda y Ahumada; 28 March 15154 or 15 October 1582), also called Saint Teresa of Jesus, was a Spanish Carmelite nun and prominent Spanish mystic and religious reformer. Active during t ...

, Saint

Ignatius of Loyola Ignatius of Loyola, S.J. (born Íñigo López de Oñaz y Loyola; eu, Ignazio Loiolakoa; es, Ignacio de Loyola; la, Ignatius de Loyola; – 31 July 1556), venerated as Saint Ignatius of Loyola, was a Spanish Catholic priest and theologian, ...

, and Blessed

William Joseph Chaminade Guillaume-Joseph Chaminade, SM (also known as William Joseph Chaminade; Périgueux, 8 April 1761 – Bordeaux, 22 January 1850) was a French Catholic priest who survived persecution during the French Revolution and later founded the Society of ...

are among the foremost ones. The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is one of two minor

basilica In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica is a large public building with multiple functions, typically built alongside the town's Forum (Roman), forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek East. The building ...

s in the city of Zaragoza, and is co-cathedral of the city alongside the nearby La Seo de Zaragoza. The architecture is of

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, and the present building was predominantly built between 1681 and 1872.

History

Apparition of ''Pilar''

According to ancient local tradition, soon after the

crucifixion Crucifixion is a method of capital punishment in which the victim is tied or nailed to a large wooden cross or beam and left to hang until eventual death from exhaustion and asphyxiation. It was used as a punishment by the Persians, Carthagi ...

and

resurrection Resurrection or anastasis is the concept of coming back to life after death. In a number of religions, a dying-and-rising god is a deity which dies and is resurrected. Reincarnation is a similar process hypothesized by other religions, whic ...

of Jesus, Saint James was preaching the

Gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

in Spain, but was disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition holds that on 2 January 40 AD, while he was deep in prayer by the banks of the

Ebro , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

, the

Mother of God ''Theotokos'' (Greek: ) is a title of Mary, mother of Jesus, used especially in Eastern Christianity. The usual Latin translations are ''Dei Genitrix'' or ''Deipara'' (approximately "parent (fem.) of God"). Familiar English translations ar ...

appeared to him and gave a column of

jasper Jasper, an aggregate of microgranular quartz and/or cryptocrystalline chalcedony and other mineral phases,Kostov, R. I. 2010. Review on the mineralogical systematics of jasper and related rocks. – Archaeometry Workshop, 7, 3, 209-213PDF/ref> ...

and instructed him to build a church in her honor: "This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build."

First chapel

About a year after the apparition, James is believed to have had a small chapel built in Mary's honor, the first church ever dedicated to her. After James returned to Jerusalem, he was executed by

Herod Agrippa Herod Agrippa (Roman name Marcus Julius Agrippa; born around 11–10 BC – in Caesarea), also known as Herod II or Agrippa I (), was a grandson of Herod the Great and King of Judea from AD 41 to 44. He was the father of Herod Agrippa II, th ...

in about 44 AD, the first apostle to be martyred for his faith. Several of his disciples took his body and returned it for final burial in Spain. This first chapel was eventually destroyed with various other Christian shrines, but the statue and the pillar stayed intact under the protection of the people of Zaragoza.Zsolt Aradi
The Virgen Del Pilar
on Catholic culture.

Expansions

Romanesque church

Numerous churches have been built upon this site through the years. The tiny chapel built by Saint James later gave way to a basilicalike enclosure during

Constantine I Constantine I ( , ; la, Flavius Valerius Constantinus, ; ; 27 February 22 May 337), also known as Constantine the Great, was Roman emperor from AD 306 to 337, the first one to Constantine the Great and Christianity, convert to Christiani ...

's time; subsequently being transformed into Romanesque, then Gothic then

Mudéjar Mudéjar ( , also , , ca, mudèjar , ; from ar, مدجن, mudajjan, subjugated; tamed; domesticated) refers to the group of Muslims who remained in Iberia in the late medieval period despite the Christian reconquest. It is also a term for ...

styles.Juan Antonio Gracia Gimeno. ''The Pillar of Saragossa'' Editorial Escudo de Ora. S.A., The venerated shrines at Zaragoza date to the Christian Reconquest by King Alfonso I in 1118. A church in the Romanesque style was built under the pontificate of Pedro de Librana who is also credited with the oldest written testimonial to the Virgin at Zaragoza. A tympanum on the south wall of this Romanesque church still stands.

Gothic church

The Romanesque church was damaged by fire in 1434, and reconstruction began in the Mudéjar Gothic style. A Gothic-style church was built in the 15th century but only a few parts of it remain intact or were later restored, including the choir stand and the altarpiece in

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that include ...

Damián Forment Damián is a Czech, Slovak and Spanish male given name, which is a form of the name Damian. Damian is derived from the Greek name Δαμιανος (Damianos), from the Greek word δαμαζω (damazo), meaning "to tame" or "to master".''Behind ...

Current church

The present spacious church in Baroque style was begun in 1681 by

Charles II, King of Spain Charles II of Spain (''Spanish: Carlos II,'' 6 November 1661 – 1 November 1700), known as the Bewitched (''Spanish: El Hechizado''), was the last House of Habsburg, Habsburg ruler of the Spanish Empire. Best remembered for his physical disabili ...

and completed in 1686. The early constructions were supervised by Felipe Sanchez and were later modified by Francisco Herrera the Younger under

John of Austria the Younger John Joseph of Austria or John of Austria (the Younger) ( es, Don Juan José de Austria; 7 April 1629 – 17 September 1679) was a Spanish general and political figure. He was the only illegitimate son of Philip IV of Spain to be acknowledged b ...

. In 1725, the Cabildo of Zaragoza decided to change the aspect of the Holy Chapel and commissioned the architect

Ventura Rodríguez Ventura Rodríguez Tizón (July 14, 1717 – September 26, 1785) was a Spanish architect and artist. Born at Ciempozuelos, Rodríguez was the son of a bricklayer. In 1727, he collaborated with his father in the work at the Royal Palace of Aranj ...

, who transformed the building into its present dimensions of 130 meters long by 67 wide, with its eleven cupolas and four towers. The area most visited is the eastern part of the chapel, because this is where the Holy Chapel by Ventura Rodríguez (1754) is built, which houses the venerated image of the Virgin. Around the Holy Chapel are the vaults or domes painted with frescoes by

Francisco Goya Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (; ; 30 March 174616 April 1828) was a Spanish romantic painter and printmaker. He is considered the most important Spanish artist of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. His paintings, drawings, and e ...

: ''The Queen of Martyrs'' and '' Adoration of the Name of God''. The gilding and other ornamentation throughout the building were designed and overseen by Goya's father José.Connell, Evan S., Francisco Goya: A Life. New York: Counterpoint, 2004. By 1718 the church had been vaulted over. However, it was not until 1872 that the final touches were put to these vaults, when the main dome and the final spire were finished. During the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebelión, link ...

of 1936–1939 three bombs were dropped on the church but none of them exploded. Two of them are still on show in the basilica. Notable choirmasters include the Baroque composer Joseph Ruiz Samaniego.

Pillar and the image

Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the Ebro River, Zaragoza

The statue is wooden and 39 cm tall and rests on a column of

. The tradition of the shrine of El Pilar, as given by Our Lady in an apparition to Sister Mary Agreda and written about in ''

Mystical City of God ''Mystical City of God'' is a book written in the 17th century by the Franciscan nun Venerable Mary of Jesus of Ágreda. According to María de Ágreda, the book was to a considerable extent dictated to her by the Blessed Virgin Mary and regar ...

'', is that Our Lady was carried on a cloud by the angels to Zaragoza during the night. While they were traveling, the angels built a pillar of

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

, and a miniature image of Our Lady. Our Lady gave the message to St James and added that a church was to be built on the site where the apparition took place. The pillar and the image were to be part of the main altar. The image was crowned in 1905 with a crown designed by the Marquis of Griñi, and valued at 450,000 pesetas (£18,750, 1910).Nuestra Señora Del Pilar
on Catholic encylopedeia.

Layout

The building, which can be seen from the nearby

Ebro River , name_etymology = , image = Zaragoza shel.JPG , image_size = , image_caption = The Ebro River in Zaragoza , map = SpainEbroBasin.png , map_size = , map_caption = The Ebro ...

, is a large rectangle with a nave and two aisles, with two other all-brick chapels, thus giving the whole a typically Aragonese touch. It is illuminated by large

oculi An oculus (; ) is a circular opening in the center of a dome or in a wall. Originating in antiquity, it is a feature of Byzantine and Neoclassical architecture. It is also known as an '' œil-de-boeuf'' from the French, or simply a "bull's- ...

, characteristic of the monuments of the region from the 17th century onwards. Twelve enormous pillars support the vaults of the nave and aisles; the whole is topped by domes, as are the chapels. The chapels within the basilica include: *Chapel of the Rosary *Chapel of Joachim *Chapel of Saint Lawrence (Lorenzo) *Chapel of Saint Pedro de Arbués *Chapel of Saint Braulio *Chapel of Saint Anthony *Chapel of Saint Joseph *Chapel of

Saint Anna According to Christian apocryphal and Islamic tradition, Saint Anne was the mother of Mary and the maternal grandmother of Jesus. Mary's mother is not named in the canonical gospels. In writing, Anne's name and that of her husband Joachim come ...

*Chapel of Saint John

Organ and music

The first organ was built in 1463 by Enrique de Colonia. In 1537, Martín de Córdoba built another organ with the intent to compete with the one at the La Seo. Guillermo de Lupe and his son Gaudioso restructured the larger organ between 1595 and 1602; he had done the same for an organ in the

Cathedral of the Savior of Zaragoza The Cathedral of the Savior ( es, Catedral del Salvador) or La Seo de Zaragoza is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Zaragoza, in Aragon, Spain. It is part of the World Heritage Site '' Mudéjar Architecture of Aragon''. The cathedral is located on ...

in 1577. In 1657, there were several organs in the church, of many sizes and offering many possibilities. As a result, the musical activity reached a peak in the Spanish Golden Age; however, it began to decline toward the end of the 19th century. In the Middle Ages, a minstrel accompanied singers with a

dulcian The dulcian is a Renaissance woodwind instrument, with a double reed and a folded conical bore. Equivalent terms include en, curtal, german: Dulzian, french: douçaine, nl, dulciaan, it, dulciana, es, bajón, and pt, baixão. The predeces ...

. Polyphony in the Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar was first documented in the mid-17th century, played by a "tenor" and a "contrabajón". In the late 1600s, an orchestra composed of

minstrel A minstrel was an entertainer, initially in medieval Europe. It originally described any type of entertainer such as a musician, juggler, acrobat, singer or fool; later, from the sixteenth century, it came to mean a specialist entertainer ...

s agreed to work for the Church of Santa María la Mayor, the predecessor of the cathedral-basilica.

El Pilar and Spanish identity

The feast of Our Lady of the Pillar, celebrating the first apparition of

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a feminine given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religious contexts * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also calle ...

to Hispanic people, is on October 12. This coincides with the Día de la Hispanidad and the date of Columbus's discovery of the New World. Every nation of Hispanic colonial origin has donated national vestments for the fifteenth-century statue of the

Virgin Virginity is the state of a person who has never engaged in sexual intercourse. The term ''virgin'' originally only referred to sexually inexperienced women, but has evolved to encompass a range of definitions, as found in traditional, modern ...

, which is housed in the chapel.

praised El Pilar as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" during both his visits to the basilica. It was declared ''

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" (" goods" in the economic sense) and incl ...

'' in 1904.

References

* ANSÓN NAVARRO, Arturo y Belén Boloqui Larraya, «Zaragoza Barroca», en Guillermo Fatás Cabeza (coord.), ''Guía histórico-artística de Zaragoza'', Zaragoza, Institución «Fernando el Católico»; Ayto. de Zaragoza, 2008, 4.ª ed. revisada y ampliada, págs. 249–327. ''Cfr.'' especialmente la sección «Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar», págs. 287–322.— .
«El Pilar»
''Gran Enciclopedia Aragonesa'' (en línea). onsulta:22-7-2008/nowiki> * NOUGUÉS SECALL, Mariano
''Historia crítica y apologética de la Virgen nuestra señora del Pilar de Zaragoza y de su templo y tabernáculo desde el siglo I hasta nuestros días''
Madrid, Alejandro Gómez Fuentenebro, 1862. * ORTIZ ALBERO, Miguel Ángel, Julián Pelegrín Campo y María Pilar Rivero Gracia, ''El Pilar desconocido'', Zaragoza, Heraldo de Aragón, 2006, pág. 13.—D. L. Z-2597-06. * RINCÓN GARCÍA, Wifredo, ''El Pilar de Zaragoza'', Zaragoza, Everest, 2000. . * RISCO, Manuel
''España_Sagrada,_t._XXX._Contiene_el_estado_antiguo_de_la_Santa_Iglesia_de_Zaragoza_[...
/nowiki>_y_una_colección_de_las_epístolas_de_San_Braulio_[....html" ;"title="..">''España Sagrada, t. XXX. Contiene el estado antiguo de la Santa Iglesia de Zaragoza [...
/nowiki> y una colección de las epístolas de San Braulio [...">..">''España Sagrada, t. XXX. Contiene el estado antiguo de la Santa Iglesia de Zaragoza [...
/nowiki> y una colección de las epístolas de San Braulio [.../nowiki>''], Madrid, Antonio de Sancha, 1775. {{Authority control Roman Catholic churches in Zaragoza, Our Lady of the Pillar Basilica churches in Spain, Our Lady of the Pillar, Zaragoza Roman Catholic cathedrals in Aragon, Zaragoza, Our Lady of the Pillar Roman Catholic churches completed in 1686 Roman Catholic churches completed in 1961 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain Church buildings with domes Shrines to the Virgin Mary Tourist attractions in Zaragoza Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Zaragoza Baroque architecture in Aragon Cultural tourism in Spain 17th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Spain