marian
anniversaries january
January 13
Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza, Motril, Granada, Andalucía, Spain
In the 1500s, sailors found a hundred-year-old statue of the Virgin and Child in Corinth, Greece, and took it with them to sea. A storm brought them to port near Motril in southern Spain, where every time they tried to leave a new storm came up. Deciding this meant the Virgin didn't want to leave the place, they built her a chapel on the headland. In the 1600s a Baroque temple was built for Our Lady of the Head. In the 1800s, when earthquakes nearly destroyed Motril, people vowed to honor her with an annual procession if she would save them. This vow is fulfilled every January 13.The sanctuary, destroyed in the Civil War, has been rebuilt. The statue's gold hair and mantle and white robe with gold patterning are usually hidden under richly embroidered vestments. Elephant tusks mounted in silver form the crescent moon at her feet. The statue was canonically crowned in 2003. (Picture by A. Martinez from www.pueblos-espana.org).
The town of Motril holds its patronal fiesta in honor of Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza on August 15.
Also celebrated this date:
 | Notre-Dame, Namur, Namur, Wallonia, Belgium. Church consecrated, 1753; feast July 2. |
| Panna Maria Pomocnice křesťanů, Jiříkov, Děčín, Ústí nad Labem, Czech Republic, Filipov village (Virgin Mary Help of Christians). Apparition and healing, 1866. |
| Vírgenes de la Providencia, Otuzco, La Libertad, Peru. Images found in broken rock, 1867. |