Spiritual Covadonga | La Santina and the Sanctuary of the Virgin

There is a close link between Cuadonga/Covadonga and Marian devotion; for although it may have involved the Christianisation of a previous pagan cult centred on water or natural deities, the site has certainly been a place of devotion to the Virgin Mary since medieval times.

This devotion has its earliest legends dating back to the time of Pelayo and Alfonso I, but from the late 9th century onwards it has undoubtedly been linked to military victory and the cult of the so-called ‘Virgin of the Battles’. This eventually led to the establishment of a community serving the sanctuary and an initial influx of pilgrims visiting it with devotion, with the Spanish monarchy taking it under its patronage as a tangible symbol of its dynastic origins.

However, although it was a place of great devotional and identity-defining importance for the Asturian region — particularly for the easternmost part — its major boost came in the nineteenth century at the hands of Bishop Sanz y Forés. Driven by the nineteenth-century revival of Marian devotion, during his episcopate he sought to endow Cuadonga/Covadonga not only with buildings and other material assets but also with various graces which he requested from Rome, such as patronage of the region, the establishment of its own feast day, and the indulgences and jubilees to which pilgrims would be entitled. This would breathe new life into the sanctuary and the veneration of La Santina, which found its finest expression in her canonical coronation over a hundred years ago.

La Santina, affectionately known as‘pequeñina y galana’ (little and lovely), is dressed in a mantle, and this is how pilgrims and visitors usually see her. The Virgin of Covadonga has more than fifty cloaks, donated by various prominent figures and institutions over the centuries — the oldest one still in one piece is the one donated by Queen Isabella II. Changed frequently, they offer pilgrims an image of the Virgin and Child in a wide variety of colours and styles.

Upon her head rests a golden crown, edged with pearls and set with diamonds, featuring a dove representing the Holy Spirit; it is the work of Félix Granda Buylla, a priest and goldsmith from Lena. And upon the Child’s head rests another small crown, this one imperial in style, adorned with crosses and fleurs-de-lis set in precious stones. These are the crowns donated by devout Asturians in 1918. The image is completed by the golden rose in her hand, a gift from the Teresian Association, which replaces the palm frond or sceptre she may previously have held, judging by the preserved prints.

The silence that reigns in the cave is broken by the natural spectacle unfolding beneath it: the waterfall, or ‘chorrón’, of the River Mestas, which gushes from the rock and cascades noisily into the pool popularly known as ‘el pozón’; the channelling of this stream is the only part of Ventura Rodríguez’s project that was actually carried out. Pilgrims and visitors often make an offering of coins to the Santina by throwing them into the pozón.

Beneath the cave, on the left-hand side of this pool, lies the Fountain of the Seven Spouts or the Fountain of Marriage, for, as Asturian tradition holds,‘The Virgin of Covadonga has a very clear spring. Any girl who drinks from it will marry within the year’.

Cuadonga/Covadonga is a place steeped in legendary tales, and one such tale is that of the ‘campanona’, which stands near the Holy Cave, on a high and peaceful spot offering splendid views over the esplanade of the Basilica.

The ‘campanona’, as it is popularly known, is three metres high and weighs five thousand kilos, and has a romantic history: it was cast in La Felguera (Langreo) in the late 19th century by the Asturian Metallurgical Company, owned by the Austrian engineer Arnaldo de Sizzo, Count of Sizzo-Noris. Taken to the Paris Universal Exhibition in 1900, it won first prize in its category there. And as the years went by – back in the 1950s – the bell was donated to the Sanctuary of Covadonga.

The great bell is a true work of art. The bas-reliefs carved into the iron by the Italian Francesco Saverio Sortini are simply spectacular and astonishing, depicting a whole universe of classical stories, both Christian and pagan.

The first church on record in Cuadonga/Covadonga was situated within the cave itself, carving out space from the rock. It was a small wooden structure — apart from a stone chapel housing the statue — which, built as a corbelled structure, was set into the cave and supported by a cantilevered framework that seemed to hang from the mountain. It was known as the ‘Miracle of Covadonga’, as it was believed to have been built by angels for the glory of the Virgin Mary. It was accessed via the Stairway of Promises, which still stands today and ascended to the cave, running parallel to the old collegiate church.

This complex constituted the Sanctuary of Covadonga, which was visited and described to us by distinguished scholars, and which the Spanish Crown took under its direct protection from the time of Philip II onwards. However, on 17 October 1777, a accidental fire — possibly caused by the chapel’s lamps — reduced the church to ashes, resulting in the loss of jewels, votive offerings, ornaments and the image of the Virgin itself. The wooden structure and its steep location made it impossible to fight the fire, and on that day a cultural heritage was completely lost, the remains of which were recovered from the river days later.

Following the fire, the canons appealed to the Crown for funds to enable the reconstruction. The Chamber of Castile commissioned the renowned architect Ventura Rodríguez, of the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts, to design the new church. In 1780, he proposed a majestic two-storey neoclassical basilica on the pond opposite the cave. The monarchy took centre stage, with the church centred on Pelayo’s mausoleum and the Santina remaining in the cave, visible through a large window. Although an initial budget had been allocated, opposition from the canons to the design meant that only the pond beneath the cave could be constructed and channelled, and in 1796 the works were brought to a definitive halt.

The visit to the Shrine of the Dukes of Montpensier in 1857, and above all that of Queen Isabella II the following year, provided the impetus for the resumption of work at Cuadonga/Covadonga. Nicolás Cástor de Caunedo presented the Queen herself with a design for a historicist church as a new monument to the Pelagian monarchy. However, this project was never completed either, just like other attempts by the Provincial Commission for Monuments.

It was not until the episcopate of Sanz y Forés and his commission to Roberto Frassinelli that the cave was remodelled in 1875: the installation of a carved wooden shrine with lavish decoration inspired by Asturian pre-Romanesque art, where the Virgin was placed, leaving the rest of the grotto open and unobstructed.

Once the Civil War was over, the damage caused to the grotto made it possible to dismantle the shrine and construct the surroundings that can be seen in the grotto today. This task was entrusted to the architect Luis Menéndez Pidal, who sought to highlight the cave’s natural setting and surrounding landscape alongside the image itself, to this end, he built a small chapel or sacristy following Asturian pre-Romanesque styles and opted for understated ornamentation that would transform the cave itself into a true natural sanctuary.

On the day of the consecration of the Camarín de la Cueva in 1874, the Bishop of Oviedo, Benito Sanz y Forés, announced to the faithful his intention to provide the Sanctuary with a monumental church. Although it would still take a couple of years to carry this out, it was decided to build this ‘Cathedral of Covadonga’ – as it was known for many years – on the Cueto hill, a small rise in the centre of the valley facing Mount Auseva, which offers a spectacular view of the Holy Cave and its natural surroundings.

Once again, Frassinelli was chosen to design the building, continuing the medieval revival he had begun with the chapel, although on this occasion he opted for the Neo-Romanesque style. Frassinelli’s design was not carried out as originally conceived, and the architect ultimately responsible for the work was Federico Aparici y Soriano. Thus, in 1877, work began with the clearing of the Cueto hill, with King Alfonso XII himself setting off the first of the blasting charges.

Fifteen years after that first blast, the dream of so many worshippers and pilgrims, visitors and travellers from all eras, was taking shape amidst the lush natural surroundings that have always characterised this spot in the Picos de Europa.

For over a century, the Basilica of Covadonga has been one of the historical and spiritual icons of the Royal Site, attracting thousands of travellers eager to discover all the secrets of a place that is unique in the world.

The Collegiate Church of San Fernando is the oldest building in the Sanctuary, although it no longer survives in its original form. At the foot of the grotto, at the level of the final flight of the Stairway of Promises, there once stood an early monastic building with a cloister which served as a residence for the abbot and the canons who, from at least the 12th century, were responsible for worship in the hanging church. It was a very modest building, the age of which is attested to by the Romanesque tombs preserved in the collegiate church’s cloister itself.

Over time, that first building gradually fell into disrepair and became uninhabitable. It was the royal patronage between the 16th and 17th centuries that provided the religious community with a new monastery. And so, from this initiative arose the building that can be seen today in a space that appears to have been carved out of the hillside: a two-storey rectangular structure centred around an inner courtyard and cloister, with a tower at one end and the chapel on the side adjacent to the cave.

After the Civil War, a twin building was erected next to the Collegiate Church to serve as the Novena House, and in the space between the two stands an ornamental fountain inspired by the era of Charles III.

Music has always been one of the defining features of worship at Cuadonga/Covadonga. Since the last century, music at the Royal Site has been embodied by the Escolanía. This is a boys’ choir that contributes to the liturgy and the veneration of the Santina, lending the celebrations a special solemnity.

The group of child singers, aged between 8 and 18, who make up this choir live at the Sanctuary during the school year, as their activities combine their academic education with extensive musical and choral training under the guidance of renowned musicians.

Over the decades, many former choirboys have made music their profession — as orchestra and choir conductors, conservatoire teachers and instrumentalists — and some of them have gone on to teach the next generations of the Escolanía.

Although their presence may often go unnoticed, the Sanctuary of Covadonga owes much of its very existence to the nuns who form part of the permanent community centred around La Santina. There are currently two communities of nuns living in Covadonga. The most recent arrivals are the Daughters of Saint Mary of the Heart of Jesus, a congregation which, since late 2014, has been looking after pilgrims arriving at the Diocesan House of Spirituality, situated opposite the Collegiate Church of San Fernando. That year, they took over from the Handmaids of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, who had carried out this work since 1968.

Meanwhile, the Carmelite Sisters, Messengers of the Holy Spirit – a community founded in Brazil in 1984 – are in charge of the children at the Escolanía.

Finally, it is worth noting the presence of the consecrated laywomen belonging to the Teresian Association who live in Covadonga and are responsible, on a daily basis, for the care and upkeep of the Santina’s vestments and liturgical items.

Throughout history, many pilgrims have visited Cuadonga/Covadonga. The vast majority of them were anonymous travellers who made their way there, but others have left us their names and even accounts of their journeys. Among them, a number of notable figures stand out, such as Queen Isabella II, who in 1858 visited the Sanctuary accompanied by her children Alfonso and María Isabel, who were confirmed in the Cave by the royal chaplain, Saint Anthony Mary Claret, founder of the Claretians.

Although not on a pilgrimage, but living in Cuadonga/Covadonga as a canon, Pedro Poveda devoted himself to the study of educational matters at the Sanctuary in the early 20th century, and it was here that his plan to found the Teresian Association would take shape, decades later; In 1954, Cardinal Angelo Roncalli, the future Pope John XXIII, made a pilgrimage to Cuadonga/Covadonga. Admiring the beauty of the landscape, the then Patriarch of Venice described Cuadonga/Covadonga as a ‘smile of nature’. Saint José María Escrivá de Balaguer, Saint Manuel González, Práxedes Fernández from Miera, and Pope John Paul II, who visited in 1989, also prayed before the Santina.