"Where a hidden Madonna emerged from centuries of silence atop Spain's sacred mountain"
Our Lady of Pena de Francia
El Cabaco, Castile and León, Spain
Rising 1,723 meters above the plains of Castilla y Leon, this mountain sanctuary guards an image of the Virgin hidden from invaders for centuries and rediscovered through divine vision. For nearly six hundred years, pilgrims have climbed toward the Black Madonna of Pena de Francia, seeking intercession at one of the world's highest Marian shrines. The Dominican friars who tend the sanctuary continue a tradition unbroken since 1437.
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Quick Facts
Location
El Cabaco, Castile and León, Spain
Coordinates
40.5125, -6.1692
Last Updated
Jan 8, 2026
Learn More
The sanctuary's history begins with mystery: a statue hidden from Moorish invaders and lost for centuries. Its discovery in 1434 by a French mystic named Simon Vela initiated six centuries of pilgrimage. The Dominican Order has tended the site since 1437, surviving expulsion and returning to continue their vigil. The Virgin's patronage now extends over the province of Salamanca and the autonomous community of Castilla y Leon.
Origin Story
The earliest chapter remains veiled in tradition rather than documentation. According to accounts passed down through centuries, the statue of the Virgin existed during Charlemagne's reign in the eighth century. French knights fighting against Muslim forces found the image on the mountain, won their battle with her help, and a French bishop consecrated the peak as Monte Sacro. When Christian territories fell to Muslim conquest, the faithful buried their Madonna to save her from destruction.
For centuries, she slept in the mountain. Then Simon Vela was born in Paris to pious parents who taught him devotion. Renouncing his inheritance, he became a Franciscan lay brother. One night, praying in an empty church, he heard a voice: wake up, go to Pena de Francia, find a shrine of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The voice added words that became his name: Simon, vela y no duermas. Simon, stay awake and do not sleep.
He searched for five years. Across France, along the Camino de Santiago, asking every pilgrim he met for a place called Pena de Francia. None knew it. Finally, in Salamanca's marketplace, a coal vendor called out about his merchandise from Mount Pena de Francia. Simon had his direction at last.
On May 19, 1434, guided to the exact spot by apparitions and light, Simon and four companions began to dig. Beneath a massive rock, they found the Virgin along with other images and church bells hidden from the Moors centuries before. At the moment of discovery, witnesses reported, healings occurred immediately.
Key Figures
Simon Vela
Simon Vela de Paris
founder
A French Franciscan lay brother who spent five years searching for the mountain the Virgin revealed to him in a vision. His surname, Vela, comes from the voice's command to stay awake. After discovering the buried image in 1434, he built the first chapel on the summit and lived out his days in devotion to the Virgin he had unearthed.
Juana Hernandez
La Moza Santa
prophet
A holy woman who prophesied on her deathbed, before Simon Vela's discovery, that an image of the Virgin lay hidden on Pena de Francia and would soon come to light. She told listeners that Our Lord would work many miracles through it.
King Juan II of Castile
patron
The monarch who granted royal authorization for the Dominican convent on November 19, 1436, establishing the institutional framework that has sustained the sanctuary for nearly six centuries.
Pope Martin V
patron
The pope who gave blessing to the Dominican foundation, adding papal authority to royal patronage and confirming the sanctuary's significance within the universal Church.
Spiritual Lineage
The Dominican friars who arrived on June 11, 1437, five in number, inaugurated a presence that has survived revolution, disentailment, and theft. The formal establishment of the Dominican cult on October 10, 1437, marks the beginning of continuous religious life on the summit. The nineteenth century brought disruption. The Mendizabal disentailment of 1836 expelled religious orders across Spain, leaving Pena de Francia abandoned. The Virgin's image moved between rival villages until 1859, when she returned to the summit. Theft in 1872 removed the original statue for seventeen years. When fragments were recovered, the current image was created to house them. The Dominicans returned in 1900 and have remained since. The solemn coronation of the image in 1952 and Pope Paul VI's designation of the Virgin as patron of Salamanca province in 1966 have strengthened her official status. But the essential reality remains unchanged since 1437: friars on a mountain, tending a Madonna, receiving pilgrims who climb toward her.
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