The Cathedral-Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar (Spanish: Catedral Basílica de Nuestra Señora del Pilar) is a Catholic church in Zaragoza, Aragon (Spain). The basilica's titular is the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Pillar, praised as "Mother of the Hispanic Peoples" by Pope John Paul II. It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history.
Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the spread of Christianity in Roman Spain attributing to an apparition to Saint James the Great, the apostle who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country. This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before she believed Assumption.
Credit and thanks to Google Earth Studio for this amazing aerial footage.
Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the spread of Christianity in Roman Spain attributing to an apparition to Saint James the Great, the apostle who is believed by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country. This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before she believed Assumption.
Credit and thanks to Google Earth Studio for this amazing aerial footage.
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00:00The Cathedral Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar, Spanish, Catedral Basilica de Nuestra
00:14Señora del Pilar, is a Catholic church in Zaragoza, Aragon, Spain.
00:20The basilica's titular is the Blessed Virgin Mary under the title of Our Lady of the Pillar,
00:24praised as, Mother of the Hispanic Peoples, by Pope John Paul II.
00:29It is reputed to be the first church dedicated to Mary in history.
00:33Local traditions take the history of this basilica to the spread of Christianity in
00:37Roman Spain attributing to an apparition to St. James the Great, the apostle who is believed
00:42by tradition to have brought Christianity to the country.
00:45This is the only reported apparition of Mary to have occurred before she believed the assumption.
00:51Many of the kings of Spain, and many other foreign rulers and saints have paid their
00:54devotion before this statue of Mary.
00:57St. John of the Cross, St. Teresa of Ávila, St. Ignatius of Loyola, and Blessed William
01:03Joseph Chaminade are among the foremost ones.
01:06The Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar is one of two minor basilicas in the city of
01:10Zaragoza, and is co-cathedral of the city alongside the nearby Liceo de Zaragoza.
01:16The architecture is of Baroque style, and the present building was predominantly built
01:19between 1681 and 1872.
01:23According to ancient local tradition, soon after the crucifixion and resurrection of
01:27Jesus, St. James was preaching the gospel in Spain, but was disheartened because of
01:31the failure of his mission.
01:34Tradition holds that on the 2nd of January 40 AD, while he was deep in prayer by the
01:38banks of the Ebro, the Mother of God appeared to him and gave a column of jasper and instructed
01:43him to build a church in her honor.
01:45This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of
01:49the temple that you shall build.
01:52First Chapel About a year after the apparition, James is believed to have had a small chapel
01:56built in Mary's honor, the first church ever dedicated to her.
02:00After James returned to Jerusalem, he was executed by Herod Agrippa in about 44 AD.
02:06The first apostle to be martyred for his faith, several of his disciples took his body and
02:10returned it for final burial in Spain.
02:13This first chapel was eventually destroyed with various other Christian shrines, but
02:17the statue in the pillar stayed intact under the protection of the people of Zaragoza.
02:22Mudéjar Church of the Pillar in 1647 by Juan Bautista Martínez del Mazo
02:27Numerous churches have been built upon this site through the years.
02:31The tiny chapel built by St. James later gave way to a basilica-like enclosure during Constantine
02:36the First's time, subsequently being transformed into Romanesque, then Gothic then Mudéjar
02:41styles.
02:42The venerated shrines at Zaragoza date to the Christian reconquest by King Alfonso I
02:47in 1118.
02:48A church in the Romanesque style was built under the pontificate of Pedro de Labrana
02:52VIII, who is also credited with the oldest written testimonial to the Virgin at Zaragoza.
02:58A tympanum on the south wall of this Romanesque church still stands.
03:03Basilica of the Pillar in 1806, before the four high neo-Mudéjar spears were built in
03:071872.
03:09Most of the angular towers that enhance the exterior volume date to the 20th century,
03:14and were not completed until 1961.
03:17Engraving by Robert Daudet and Louis-François Lejeune.
03:20The Romanesque church was damaged by fire in 1434, and reconstruction began in the Mudéjar
03:25Gothic style.
03:27A Gothic-style church was built in the 15th century but only a few parts of it remain
03:31intact or were later restored, including the choir stand and the altarpiece in alabaster
03:35by Damien Formant.
03:37Detail of the fresco of the Queen of Martyrs in the dome, painted by Francisco Goya The
03:42present spacious church in Baroque style was begun in 1681, 6, by Charles II.
03:48King of Spain and completed in 1686.
03:51The early constructions were supervised by Felipe Sánchez and were later modified by
03:55Francisco Herrera the Younger under John of Austria the Younger.
03:59That is all.
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