On 5 April,  in Beit Sahour, near Bethlehem at the Shepherds’ Field, the artistic works of the new chapels dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Estremadura and queen of the Spanish-speaking world, and to the Immaculate Conception were blessed.

The ceremony took place during a pilgrimage organized by the “Holy Land Centre” of  Spain, led by its Director, Fra Rufino Luis Quintana, with the presence of a delegation of the archdiocese of Toledo, led by the Archbishop and Primate of Spain, Monsignor Francisco Cerro Chaves. Both the chapels will be consecrated when the works are finished.

The celebration of the Eucharist

Monsignor Cerro Chaves presided over a celebration of the Eucharist in the open-air chapel dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe. The concelebrants were the Custos of the Holy Land, Fra Francesco Patton, and Fra Rufino Luis Quintana. The Spanish Consul-General in Jerusalem, José Javier Gutiérrez Blanco-Navarrete, was also present.

After the Mass, the ceramic panel behind the altar was blessed. It is an  “azulejo”, a painted ceramic, typical of the area of Toledo. In its centre, there is the image of Our Lady of  Guadalupe. At the sides, the scene of the miraculous finding of the statue and the procession led by the archbishop of Toledo, with the city in the background.

The patron saint of the Estremadura

“During my many pilgrimages to the Holy Land, the Shepherds’ Field has always evoked for me the image of the Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, the patron saint of the Estremadura and Queen of Hispanidad,” Mons. Cerro Chaves told the website of the Custody.

In the Spanish town of Guadalupe (Estremadura), today part of the archdiocese of Toledo, the Virgin Mary appeared to a shepherd, asking him to dig there. This is how the statue of the Virgin Mary, which today is worshipped in the Monastery of Guadalupe, was found.

The chapel was financed by the diocese of Toledo, with the participation of the dioceses of Mérida-Badajoz, Coria-Cáceres and Plasencia (Estremadura), and some institutions of the Estremadura, Toledo and other Spanish regions.

“This chapel is  a joint effort which will allow the Mother of Guadalupe to be worshipped  in this unique place,  welcoming pilgrims from all over the world.”

The initiative came about on the Jubilee of the Patron Saint of the Estremadura, celebrated between 2020 and 2022. “When I arrived in the archdiocese of Toledo in 2020,” Mons. Cerro Chavez continued, “I had this intuition which, after being shared, brought this chapel as its fruit.”

The Chapel of the Immaculate Conception 

After the celebration in the open-air,  those present went down in a procession to the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception (“Spanish chapel”), built thanks to donations from the Spanish faithful.

In the chapel, the cycle of paintings by the Spanish artist Miguel Ángel Laguna was blessed: at the center, enclosed in  an almond-shaped aureole, the Immaculate Virgin, represented according to the Franciscan tradition.

On the sides, 20 medallions picturing the Marian shrines in the Holy Land  form a crown for the large image of the Immaculate Virgin. Two large illustrations the sides of the large presbytery represent the Spanish people and the Franciscan family worshipping the Virgin Mary.

An azulejo of the Virgin Mary of Carmel, placed at the entrance to the Chapel, and  a tabernacle, made in Spain, for the “Arab chapel” were  also  blessed.

Peace for the Holy Land

During the celebration, prayers were said in particular for peace in the Holy Land, with the presence of pilgrims already a first good sign, as the Custos recalled.

“From this holy place, where the angels proclaimed for the first time ‘on earth peace among those with whom He [God] is pleased’, my wish is that a prayer for peace is always raised here,” Mons. Cerro Chavez said. “I join the pilgrim Church in this Land so that a song of Peace and Good always resounds in all the work of the Franciscan Custody.”