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Shrine of Our Lady of Europe

Coordinates:36°06′41″N5°20′54″W/ 36.111332°N 5.348293°W/36.111332; -5.348293
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This article is about the shrine in Gibraltar. For the shrine in Campodolcino, seeShrine of Our Lady of Europe (Italy).

Shrine of Our Lady of Europe
Shrine of Our Lady of Europe
Religion
AffiliationRoman Catholic
ProvinceDiocese of Gibraltar
Ecclesiastical or organizational statusNational Shrine,Parish
LeadershipFr.Charles Azzopardi
Year consecrated20 August 1462
Location
LocationEuropa Point,Gibraltar
Geographic coordinates36°06′41″N5°20′54″W/ 36.111332°N 5.348293°W/36.111332; -5.348293
Architecture
Groundbreaking14th century
Website
www.ourladyofeurope.net

TheShrine of Our Lady of Europeis aRoman Catholicparish church andnational shrineofGibraltarlocated atEuropa Point.The church is dedicated toOur Lady of Europe,the Catholicpatronessof Gibraltar.

It belongs to theEuropean Marian Network,which links twentyMariansanctuaries in Europe (as many as the number of decades in theRosary).[1][2]

History

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The Spanish period

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At the beginning of the 14th century, during the Moor period of the town, a smallmosquewas erected inEuropa Point.It is known that during the first Spanish period (1309–1333) the mosque was turned into aChristianshrine.[3][4]

On 20 August 1462, onSt. Bernard of Clairvaux's feast day, theSpaniardsrecaptured Gibraltar from theMoors.They converted again the little mosque at Europa Point into a Christian shrine in honour ofOur Ladyas Patroness ofEurope(Spanish:Ermita de la Virgen de Europa), with devout intention of consecrating to God, through Mary, the whole continent, from a place of prayer and worship at its southernmost point.[3]

They built a largechapelat right angles to the mosque's east wall and the whole area became the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe. A statue of the Virgin and Child was installed in this shrine in the 15th century. The statue was quite small, only two feet in height, carved in wood and polychromed in royal red, blue and gold. The Virgin was seated in a simple chair, with the Child Jesus on her lap. Both were crowned and the Virgin held in her right hand asceptrewith three flowers denoting Love, Truth and Justice. The shrine prospered in fame and popularity, for well over two centuries. Ships passing through theStrait of Gibraltarsaluted Our Lady as they passed Europa Point and mariners often came ashore with gifts to the shrine. Provisions were made by them for a constant supply of oil so that a light could be kept burning not only in front of the image but also in the tower. Therefore, the light kept burning in the tower above the chapel was the Gibraltar's firstlighthouse.

In the 16th century, theMediterranean coastsof Spain were the target of theBarbary pirates.In 1545, Gibraltar was attacked andlootedby a lieutenant ofBarbarossa,Hali Hamat.[3]The shrine was sacked and all its valuables were stolen, but the statue of the Virgin and Child was respected. The shrine recovered and was protected by new walls, erected byPhilip II.New notable gifts were received, such as a silver lamp, given in 1568 byGiovanni Andrea Doria,son of the greatGenoeseadmiralAndrea Doria,and two massive silver lamps presented byJohn of Austria,upon his victory at theBattle of Lepanto (1571).

The British period

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Gibraltar plaques - Our Lady of Europe,Gibraltar.[5]

After the French bombing in 1693,[3]the next attack to the shrine took place in August 1704 as the city wascaptured by a mainly Anglo-Dutch fleeton behalf of the pretender to theSpanish crown,theArchduke Charles.[3]As the bombardment of the city began, most of the women and children of Gibraltar were evacuated to the shrine led by several priests. Part of the troops of CaptainEdward Whitaker,who had landed atRosia Bay,headed to the shrine and captured the women. They also looted:

... twelve silver lamps, candlesticks, lecterns, crowns, gems and consecrated vessels, the clothes of many families, who had withdrawn there, and when there was nothing else to rob, they broke off the head of the statue which is so venerated in Spain and the child Jesus and threw it among the stones.[6]

Some women had been killed in a gunfight before the soldiers took the shrine, but did not suffer from further molestation when the shrine was sacked. The head of the statue of the Virgin and the child Jesus were broken off. Once broken, the remains were thrown out into the strait landing among the rocks below. However, as the statue was wooden, the remains floated out into theBay of Gibraltarwhere they were found by a fisherman, who later delivered them toJuan Romero de Figueroa,the priest in charge at the parish ofSt. Mary the Crowned.Romero de Figueroa remained in the city even when the majority of the population left Gibraltar after the capture of the city and eventually took the statue's remains toAlgecirasfor safekeeping,[3]one of the places where the former Spanish inhabitants of Gibraltar had settled down. The statue was hosted in a small chapel dedicated toSt. Bernard,which was later renamed to theChapel of Our Lady of Europe.

At the time of the capture of Gibraltar by the Anglo-Dutch fleet, the shrine, as all other Catholic places of worship in Gibraltar except for theChurch of St. Mary the Crowned(now Gibraltar's Roman Catholic cathedral), was desecrated and ceased to be used, but taken over for military use. It also suffered heavy damage during theGreat Siege of Gibraltarand subsequently demolished with a new one rebuilt on the same site in subsequent years.

In the early 1860s, theVicar Apostolicof Gibraltar,John Baptist Scandella,petitioned for the return of the original statue from Algeciras. It was eventually returned to Gibraltar in 1864.[3][7]As the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained in military hands, the statue was provisionally placed in a new chapel erected alongEngineer Road.[3]The new chapel included amarblealtardonated afterwards byPopePius IX.During theSecond World War,the statue was returned to the cathedral for safekeeping.[3]After the War, the statue was once more relocated, this time to St. Joseph's Parish Church, the closest church to Europa Point.[8]

The building erected at the place of the old Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained property of theMinistry of Defenceuntil 1961. It had been an army storehouse for oil and packing cases. Since 1928 it had been used as alibraryfor the garrison, but with the outbreak of World War II, it was returned to a storage facility.[9]By 1959, the military authorities, which had begun to withdraw many military installations in Gibraltar, noted that it was no longer required and decided to demolish it. However, this never happened and due to the efforts of BishopJohn Healyit was ceded to theDioceseon 17 October 1961, in a private ceremony.[10]Restoration works began in 1962. For the first time in 258 years, a mass was celebrated at the Shrine on 28 September 1962.[11]The statue was finally transferred in public procession from St. Joseph's Parish Church to the Shrine on 7 October 1967.[3][12]In the early 1970s, the building underwent changes. The statue of Our Lady remains in the Shrine to this day. in 1997, the sanctuary was rebuilt, and the statue restored.[3]

Recent years

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Papal approval

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In 1979Pope John Paul IIofficially approved the title of Our Lady of Europe as Patroness of Gibraltar, and subsequently the shrine was restored.[13]

Jubilee

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Upon the 700th anniversary of the devotion to Our Lady of Europe, the shrine received theGolden Rose,a rare gift given by thePope Benedict XVIin May 2009.[13]

See also

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References

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Notes
  1. ^Alice Mascarenhas (5 May 2009)."'The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe is a Centre of Spirituality'".Gibraltar Chronicle.Retrieved30 January2010.
  2. ^"Aušros Vartai".www.ausrosvartai.lt.Retrieved28 July2018.
  3. ^abcdefghijkBon, Patrice (28 April 2019),Français: Informations sur le Sanctuaire marial de Notre-Dame de l'Europe, afficher dans une exposition au Sanctuaire de Lourdes, à l'accueil Jean-Paul II,retrieved2 May2019
  4. ^FOGHS Newsletter No 73,Friends of Gibraltar Heritage Society, August 2005, page 11
  5. ^"Title origin".ourladyofeurope.net.Retrieved2 May2019.
  6. ^Hills 1974,pp. 173–174, quoting an annotation by the priest of the parish ofSt. Mary the Crowned,Juan Romero de Figueroa,in the Baptismal Register, afterwards taken to the parish church of San Roque.
  7. ^Caruana 2008,p. 6
  8. ^Caruana 2008,p. 13
  9. ^Philatelic and Numismatic Office (2009)."Joint issue Gibraltar - Vatican City 700 Years of devotion to Our Lady of Europe (Mini-sheet)".vaticanstate.va.Archived fromthe originalon 22 June 2009.Retrieved15 August2012.
  10. ^Caruana 2008,p. 16
  11. ^Caruana 2008,p. 17
  12. ^Caruana 2008,p. 19
  13. ^ab"Shrine of Our Lady of Europe - Catholic Diocese of Gibraltar".Catholic Church.Retrieved2 May2019.
Bibliography

Further reading

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