marian anniversaries     september

Sunday nearest September 8

Virgen de la Cruz, Escalona del Prado, Segovia, Castile and León, Spain

Most of what we know about the Escalona apparitions comes from an ecclesiastical inquiry conducted over 100 years after the events. One summer Saturday, around 1490, when Sancho Herrera was plowing his fields, his wife sent their servant girl Joana to gather thistles for his mules to eat on their return. Joana went to a place near a rural cross and had just gathered her first skirtful when she saw the Virgin appear in radiant splendor. 

The Mother of God said to her, "Run, daughter, and tell your masters to tell the priest and the council that where the cross of the meadow path is they should build a chapel in my name called Saint Mary of the Cross, which will be of much devotion, consolation, and help for all of Christianity and even more in the times to come." The girl replied, "My lady, I will gather this sack of thistles, and then I will go and say it." And the Virgin Our Lady told her, "Go along, the sack is already full," and at once the Virgin Mother of God disappeared from her. The girl went to the sack and found it quite full of thistles. 

Despite Joana's quick return thanks to this small miracle, Sancho Herrera disbelieved her story and forbid her to repeat it. Twice more she saw the radiant apparition while gathering thistles near the cross in the company of a young boy who saw nothing unusual. The first time, Mary repeated her request and Sancho his denial. The next time, Mary knelt to embrace the cross before repeating her request. As a sign to make the grownups believe, Mary sealed Joana's lips together. By signs, Joana told the Herreras what happened. This time, Sancho called for the priest. 

The next day, the whole village went in procession to the cross, with mute Joana, and marked the spot for the chapel, then returned to the village church for mass. At the final words, Ite missa est, Joana's lips were unsealed, and she told of the apparitions in her own words, with corroboration from little Bartolomé.

The chapel was soon built and Joana, now known as Joana of the Cross, became its hermitess—live-in caretaker. Several years later, she left that job and got married, returning frequently to the shrine all her life. Meanwhile, the cross and chapel began attracting pilgrims, as they still do.

The Virgin of the Cross is the patron saint of Escalona, which celebrates her fiesta on the weekend of September 8 or the weekend before, with special masses both days, and on Sunday, a procession of municipal leaders and confraternity members in regional costume.