Flora Cantábrica

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Virgin of Guadalupe of Estremadura

Gil Cordero used to graze his cows together with other shepherds from the land in the Sierra de las Villuercas area. One day in the year of 1326 of our Lord Jesus Christ, after the daily grazing of the cows was over, when he went to gather the herd and count his white cows from Cáceres, he realized that one of his precious cows was missing. Concerned because the cows that he raised and cared for were his property and his livelihood, he hurried off in search of him.

For three days he searched for the lost cattle throughout the mountains without finding any trace, and when he was returning home, considering the cow lost, he stopped to rest and quench his thirst on the banks of the Guadalupe River (word of Arabic origin) near the Sierra de Altamira (Cáceres), and when he looked up again, in the distance among the vegetation he could distinguish the lost cattle. Swift approached her, finding her lying without any sign of bruises or wounds on her skin, but the cowboy did not find any signs of life either, the cow lay dead. Since he didn’t know the reason for her death (it could be due to poisoning) the meat would no longer be useful to him, but he could take advantage of her skin. From his sheath he took a knife to skin it, and when he prepared to make a cross-shaped incision in the animal’s chest, as was the custom among butchers, the cow got up, lived. The cowboy did not believe this event, fearful and surprised, he took a few steps back, and in greater astonishment a ray of light blinded him for a few moments, and when he looked again he distinguished the figure of a woman who looked at him with sweetness and love, and thus spoke to him:

«Do not fear, for I am Mary Most Holy Mother of God, and before you I appear in good faith, take your cow and reunite it with the others, for it is healthy and alive by the grace of God. Return with them to your Villa and tell everyone about the miracle that you have witnessed here -the shepherd from Cáceres, kneeling, listening in astonishment to the words of the Virgin- and tell the clergy and ministers of the Christian faith that I have sent you so that together with you come to this place, because here under these stones where

You found your cow dead, I find myself in an image. And when they take me out of my burial tell them not to move me or take me from this place, that they make me a box right here to take refuge and eventually build a church in said place where my son’s people can come to pray and offer adoration, and for such devotion, miracles will be performed at my request. So let him know.»

The fearful and timid cowboy crossed himself first and replied:

“My Lady Most Holy Mary, praised be your name, and I will divulge your word as you have revealed it to me everywhere, but I am a shepherd and a humble man, and if I have to speak that way, my people have put me under a spell or madness. to take.”

«Don’t be afraid,» the image that appeared told him again, «because the moment my words for you are pronounced before everyone, I will perform another miracle attesting to the truth of those words, so it will be by the work and grace of God Jesus Christ, son in my conceived. He sees then, and does my will.»

And after saying these words the image vanished. The cowboy soon grabbed his cow and headed towards the village to fulfill the good news.

He walked day and night without rest, and when he finally arrived at the Villa de Cáceres, the Cabildo and the assembled clergymen related what had happened to him in the Sierra, but as he had said they did not believe him and he was taken for crazy: “Crazy, crazy. -said some- sacrilegious, -others-.”

Even the parish priest of his snack reproached him:

«Stop fooling around and go home because your little son passed away

«Stop fooling around and go home because your little son died this morning at dawn and they’re going to give him a burial.»

The pastor, upon hearing such tragic news, ran desperately to his house and upon entering found his wife, Mencía, crying over the lying body of his son. The shepherd with teary eyes and kneeling, but with great devotion and faith, before the body of his son, invoked the Mother of God:

“Holy Virgin, I am your slave and a faithful keeper of your word, but no one believed what you ordered, forgive me, and do not bring my little son before you for my sins. Work now your miracle, resurrect my offspring, as our Almighty Lord Jesus Christ raised Lazarus, and I will serve you until the end of my days.»

And when the clergymen came to take the body away to bury it, in front of everyone present, a miracle occurred and the child rose to life, as if he had just woken up from a peaceful sleep, and thus he spoke to his father:

«Father, please take me to where the Mother of God appeared to you, I want to thank her and pray to her.»

Many present were stunned, others crossed themselves and began to pray and voices were heard shouting:

«Miracle, miracle, the Lord has worked a miracle!»

Soon the news spread throughout the town and its surroundings. And everyone believed the mandates given by the Virgin to the pastor, before the miracle now performed.

And guided by the pastor towards the Sierra de las Villuercas, clergy, authorities and people of all social classes went to profession, and there near the Guadalupe river in the indicated place:

«Here is the place» – Said the cowboy and they began to dig and a few meters underground they found inside an ancient marble tomb, an incorrupt image of Our Blessed Lady, just as she had manifested to the cowboy. –

«The miracle has come true, let us pray and do his will,» the clergymen shouted.

Pastor and clergymen from Cáceres discover the Image of the Virgin.

Canvas by Juan de Santa María, 17th century.

The image was a small carving of a dark-skinned Madonna with a child in cedar wood. Along with the image they found a bell, jewels, precious stones and a manuscript with the history of the Sacred Image. According to him, the image was the work of Saint Mark the Evangelist himself in the 1st century, who was buried with it at his death, already in the year 590 in Rome, Pope Gregory the Great became a great devotee of the image, shortly after it was He moved to Seville as a gift from said Pope to Archbishop San Leandro and stayed there until the Arab invasion in 711; In the year 714 some clergymen who fled from Seville because of the invasion took with them ecclesiastical relics and the image, which they would bury shortly after on the banks of the Guadalupe river to protect it from the Saracens and was buried like this for 600 years. In honor of the place where the image was found, it was called Santa María de Guadalupe.

Right there, as requested by the Virgin Mary, the first hermitage was built, small, poor and humble, which became a place of pilgrimage. Illustrious pilgrims such as the Catholic Monarchs, Carlos V, Miguel de Cervantes, Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés or Santa Teresa de Jesús showed their devotion to the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The cowboy Gil Cordero remained in said sanctuary until his death, as he had promised to the Virgin, he was buried there and it is said that his body, when it was transferred to the Main Chapel, was still preserved whole, 270 years had passed since his burial. He was the first settler of the Villa, and by order of King Alfonso XI, who seeing the dilapidated state of the hermitage, began the construction of the Royal Monastery of Guadalupe in the year 1340 d. C., will be called from then on Don Gil de Santa María de Guadalupe.