Sant Gil

According to tradition, Saint Giles (Catalan: Sant Gil) arrived in the valley in approximately 700 AD and lived there for four years. He crafted an image of the Virgin Mary and later hid it in a cave when forced to flee from a Roman persecution against Christians. Along with the image of the Virgin, he left a pot used for cooking, a cross, and a bell for calling shepherds to meals.
Still according to tradition, a pilgrim named Amadéu (in the NOTE) began searching for the image in 1072, after having a prophetic dream. He then built a small chapel for pilgrims, and found the image seven years later, next to the pot, the cross, and the bell, whereupon he brought the objects to the chapel to be venerated.
The image which is venerated at present has been dated to have been made during the twelfth or thirteenth century. It is a wooden Romanesque carving. The primitive-looking polychrome statue still retains its painting intact.

The shepherds regarded this image of the Blessed Virgin as a patron saint of fertility. The canonical consecration of Our Lady of Núria was in 1965. Her feast day is September 8. The name Núria is now a very popular girl's name in Catalonia.

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