Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar

The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar in Zaragoza, Spain, enshrines one of the oldest and most distinctive Marian traditions in the Catholic Church. According to longstanding tradition, the Virgin Mary appeared to the Apostle St. James the Greater on January 2, AD 40, while he was evangelizing along the Ebro River — an event remembered as the only apparition of Mary while she was still alive on earth. She left behind a small jasper pillar and asked that a chapel be built on the spot.

The current basilica is a vast Baroque structure begun in 1681 and completed in the 18th century, with frescoed domes by Francisco Bayeu and the young Francisco de Goya, who was born nearby. The pillar and small image of the Virgin are enshrined in the Holy Chapel within the basilica, and the unbroken veneration of Our Lady of the Pillar is among the oldest continuous Marian devotions in Christianity.

In 1936, during the Spanish Civil War, three bombs were dropped on the basilica and none exploded — an event widely attributed to Our Lady's protection. Two of the unexploded bombs remain on display inside the basilica.

Our Lady of the Pillar is the patroness of Spain and of the Hispanic world. Her October 12 feast — which coincides with the Spanish national day and the anniversary of Columbus's landfall in the Americas — draws hundreds of thousands of pilgrims to Zaragoza for the week-long Fiestas del Pilar. The Pillar receives over 3 million pilgrims annually.