Our Lady of the Pillar

The first Marian apparition reportedly happened on Oct. 12, 40. It was actually a case of bilocation as Mary was still alive and living in Jerusalem. The Apostle James the Greater had reached Spain preaching the Gospel. He was feeling discouraged and praying by the river in Zaragoza (Saragossa). Mary appeared to him standing on a nearby pillar, accompanied by angels, and offered James consolation and calling him back to Jerusalem.  

Although references to this apparition are not seen until the 12^th century, Zaragoza has evidence of Marian devotion dating back to Roman times. Votive images of Mary would be placed on columns or pillars. The church in Zaragoza, reportedly built by St. James, includes an image of Mary on a pillar. In a mystical account of the apparition written in 1665, it is said the angels who accompanied Mary built a pillar of marble and a miniature image of Mary with the Christ Child. The wooden statue on a pillar of jasper is still in the chapel.  

James did indeed return to Jerusalem, where he was beheaded in 44. His body was returned to the land of his mission, and he is buried in Santiago, the conclusion of the Camino.

Because the feast of Our Lady of the Pillar falls on the same day as the European discovery of the Americas (Oct. 12, 1492), Our Lady of the Pillar was named the patroness of the Hispanic World.