Last Saturday in September

Divina Pastora de las Almas, Cantillana, Sevilla, Andalucía, Spain

St. Isidore of Seville spread devotion to the Divine Shepherdess of Souls after a vision in 1703. The first image of the Divina Pastora in Cantillana was a banner, attributed to the painter Germán Llorente, carried in women's rosary processions from around 1720. In 1800 a yellow fever epidemic ravaged the area, but Cantillana was largely spared, for which people thanked the Divine Shepherdess of Souls. Soon thereafter, the Hermandad de la Divina Pastora was chartered. The Brotherhood's processional image is a seated statue, attributed to Francisco Antonio Ruiz Gijón (1653-1705). For special occasions, of which there are many, she wears a large sombrero. On August 31, a grand procession fetches the statue from its Sanctuary into town, for celebrations leading up to the fiesta September 8. On the last weekend in September, with equal splendor and emotion, the Divine Shepherdess returns to her shrine. A procession accompanies her canopied float on Saturday. On Sunday, there is mass and music, and then an all-night exposition of the statue with devotions lasting into Monday morning.

Source: the Brotherhood's website, www.cantillanaysupastora.com

Also celebrated this date:

	Madonna Addolorata, Rome, Italy (Sorrowful Madonna). Street procession, mass.
	Santa María de la Vid, La Vid y Barrios, Burgos, Castile and Léon, Spain. Fiesta.
	Nuestra Señora de la Merced en su Amargura, Bollullos de la Mitación, Sevilla, Andalucia, Spain (Our Lady of Mercy in her Sorrow, Saturday after September 24). Procession.

Where We Walked ~~~ Mary Ann Daly