Tuesday after Pentecost
Nuestra Señora de la Esperanza, Oviedo, Asturias, Spain
Oviedo,
capital of the rugged land of Asturias in northern Spain, has honored Our
Lady of Hope on this date for hundreds of years. In 1232, Doña Velasquita Giráldez gave
its tailors' guild a
hospital and chapel dedicated to Santa María, along with several farms to cover their maintenance costs.
In return the trade guild agreed to have masses and prayers said annually for
her soul. By 1450, the devotional Confraternity of La Balesquida (i.e.
Velasquita) was assuming some of those duties. Their May procession with the
Virgin's statue, followed by a lunch of bread and wine, has evolved into a
week-long celebration culminating on the Tuesday after Pentecost, a holiday
known in Oviedo as Martes de Campo or Martes del Bollu, Field Tuesday or Loaf
Tuesday, for the sausage-filled loaves distributed in St. Francis Park after
mass.
Dedicated to Our Lady of Hope, the Chapel of La Balesquida, rebuilt in 1876, stands near the original St. Mary's Hospital. The Virgin's statue was made in the 1700s as an image to be dressed, with only the head and hands carved and painted. Our Lady of Hope doesn't always look the same, because her hand positions and clothing change with the occasion, but on her breast is always pinned the medal of the City of Oviedo, given by the Council on May 25, 1952.
In addition to the celebration at Pentecost, the Confraternity observes the Feast of Our Lady of Hope on December 18, an old Catholic holy day still kept in Spanish-speaking countries in honor of Mary's pregnancy or "expectation." It is sometimes called the feast of Our Lady of the O for the advent antiphons sung at that time: O come, O come ...
(Information and picture from the Confraternity's website, www.labalesquida.es.)Also commemorated this date:
 | Notre-Dame de Wasmes, Wasmes, Colfontaine, Hainaut, Belgium. Procession. |
| Notre Dame de l'Epine, Teloché, Sarthe, Pays de la Loire, France (Our Lady of the Thorn). Pilgrimage to chapel. |
| Madonna della Valle, Acciano, L'Aquila, Abruzzo, Italy, Roccapreturo district. Procession to chapel at apparition site on Monte Acquaro. |
| Madonna del Buonviaggio, Vezzano Ligure, La Spezia, Liguria, Italy (Madonna of Good Voyage). Festa; also fourth Sunday in August. |
| Madonna di Valfrancesca, Sora, Frosinone, Latium, Italy. Procession of "Maonna Ranna" (Big Madonna) from 1856 cholera to 1961. |
| Madonna di Costantinopoli, Portocannone, Campobasso, Molise, Italy (Madonna of Constantinople). Statue processes in winning oxcart from Monday's competition. |
| Madonna della Civitella, Moio della Civitella, Salerno, Campania, Italy. Procession to mountain shrine. Blessing of fields and crosses pilgrims make from chestnut branches. |
| Madonna della Stella, Riardo, Caserta, Campania, Italy (Madonna of the Star). Festa; solemn mass, procession. |
| Madonna di Costantinopoli, Naples, Campania, Italy. Painting found after revelation to old woman, 1529. |
| Madonna delle Grazie, Chiaramonte Gulfi, Ragusa, Sicily, Italy. Festa. |
| Madonna di Costantinopoli, Lungro, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. Festa. |
| Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, Papasidero, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy. Festa. |
| Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, Rende, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy |
| Madonna di Porto, Gimigliano, Catanzaro, Calabria, Italy |
| Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, Castelgrande, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy |
| Santa Maria di Costantinopoli, Marsico Nuovo, Potenza, Basilicata, Italy |
| Maria Santissima dell'Altomare, Andria, Bari, Apulia, Italy (Most Holy Mary of the High Seas) |
| Nosa Señora da Mercé, San Pedro de Cervás, Coruña, Galicia, Spain. Thanksgiving for liberation from 1404 plague. Festa Sept. 24. |
| Virgen de las Abejas, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, La Rioja, Spain (Virgin of the Bees). Romería to chapel; mass, meal, procession. |