December 28
Virgen de la Asunción, Elche, Alicante, Valencia, Spain
The story goes that on December 28, 1370, a lookout named Francesc Cantó, watching the coast off Elche, discovered a chest floating in the sea. In it was a statue of the Virgin of the Assumption and the libretto of a mystery play enacting her death and translation to heaven. That play, the Misterio de Elche, is presented annually at the Feast of the Assumption in August. The Venida de la Virgen, the Coming of the Virgin, is enacted yearly on December 28. After Francesc Cantó finds the chest on the shore in the morning, he goes on horseback to tell the Council. The Virgin goes with him, waiting at Garden of the Red Gates until the Council issues a proclamation and sends a committee to fetch her. (On odd-numbered years, an abbreviated reenactment begins in the afternoon at the Garden.) An elaborate procession takes her to the Basilica of Santa María. On December 29, solemn mass in the Basilica follows a citywide procession. The old statue burned with the church during the Civil War in 1936. In 1940, Valencian sculptor José Capuz made the replacement statue, canonically crowned December 29, 1970.
Source: Me Encanta Elche, turismedelx.com
Also commemorated this date:
 | Notre-Dame de Laval, Saint Germain Laval, Loire, Rhône-Alpes, France. Former blessing of children on Holy Innocents Day. |