Cáceres prepares to live in 2024 the commemoration of one of the events most important that have taken place in the city, the commemoration of the centenary of the coronation of its patron saint, the Virgin of the Mountain. The image was solemnly crowned on October 12, 1924, in a mass event held in the Plaza Mayor.
The stairs that give access to the Arco de la Estrella were the scene of the pontifical ceremony prior to the coronation. A mass, presided over by the Cardinal Primate of Spain, Monsignor Reig, who after the homily, imposed on the temples of the Blessed Virgin the gold crown that the people of Cáceres gave her as a sign of gratitude for the favors received.
The people of Cáceres and their patron saint
The Virgen de la Montaña is for the people of Cáceres something more than their patron saint. Es A lifestylesince from a young age, a tradition is instilled in families that goes from generation to generation.
This is how Juan relates it for this newspaper: «I am a believer, but not a practitioner, although the Virgen de la Montaña means a lot to me, since since I was 6 years old my mother instilled in me devotion to her. when she regularly brought me to the sanctuary to see her. Since then the Virgin has protected me, she has come with me to any place I have gone, I have felt totally protected », he says excitedly.
“I have also been escort and the patron saint was the Virgen del Pilar, which I have also always carried with me; but in the heart the one who was was the Virgin of the Mountain, because there cannot be something more sacred for any cacereño than the image of their patron saint. The mothers, when we went to military service, gave us a medal with the Virgin of the Mountain on one side and on the other the image of Jesus del Gran Poder, this is perhaps one of the memories that I keep with more affection and I cannot count more about the Virgin because you only have to see the day she comes down to the city or the novena: impressive”, concludes Juan.
Like John, the Cacereños consulted by this newspaper at the foot of the dressing room speak with affection of their patron saint. Carmen Rodríguez, a woman from Cáceres who lives abroad but who comes to Cáceres whenever she can, says that «the Virgin of the Mountain is the greatest thing in my life, we have always loved her and we have always come to visit her, when there was a pity in a house or when there was a joy we attributed it to the Virgin, then we went up to thank her or ask her for a favor and she always granted it to us. She is very miraculous », she recounts.
Remember that “in times of war people went up en masse to ask the Virgin that all the revolts that Spain was suffering cease. Then imagine what the patron saint is for us, if from those times we came to pray with our parents, today it is a tradition that we have not lost », he concludes without being able to hide her devotion.