Nazaré

Tradition recounts that on the morning of 14 September 1182, the feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross, the governor of Porto de Mós, D. Fuas Roupinho, was riding through fog near the cliff of the Sítio when he spotted a deer and gave chase. Without realising, he approached dangerously close to the precipice. At that moment, he fervently invoked the Virgin Mary, whose small image was venerated in the region. Miraculously, the horse halted at the very edge of the abyss, saving the rider's life.

In gratitude, D. Fuas ordered a small chapel to be built on the spot, over the grotto where the image of the Virgin with the Child was kept, known as «Our Lady of Nazaré». To this day, next to the ancient chapel, the legendary hoofprint carved in the rock is preserved, a testimony to the devotion and memory of the miracle.

The devotion to Our Lady of Nazaré centres on a small and very ancient wooden image, of simple but deeply symbolic features. Christian tradition relates that the sculpture represents the Virgin Mary nursing the Child Jesus — which is why it is known as the «Virgin of the Milk». According to pious tradition, the image was originally carved by Saint Joseph during Jesus's childhood, and later painted by the evangelist Saint Luke.

In the early centuries of Christianity, the image remained in the Holy Land, later taken to a monastery in Palestine. In the 4th century, during the iconoclast persecutions and the threat of destruction of sacred icons, the monk Cyriacus transported the image to North Africa, entrusting it to Saint Jerome and later to Saint Augustine, Bishop of Hippo. From there it passed to the monastery of Cauliniana, near Mérida, in Spain.

With the Muslim invasion of the Iberian Peninsula in the early 8th century, the image was hidden to protect it. The last Visigoth king, D. Rodrigo, defeated at the Battle of Guadalete (711), fled accompanied by a monk named Frei Romano. Together they brought the image and concealed it in a small grotto, by the sea, high on a promontory — what we know today as the Sítio da Nazaré. There it remained hidden and forgotten for several centuries until it was rediscovered in the time of D. Fuas, giving rise to popular devotion.

The small chapel built by D. Fuas quickly became a place of pilgrimage. Devotion grew so much that, already in the 14th century, during the reign of D. Fernando I, a first larger temple was built, which would become the nucleus of the present Shrine.

In the 17th century, the building was profoundly remodelled and enlarged, acquiring the layout we know today, with its beautiful baroque façade and two bell towers. Inside, the altarpiece of the high altar stands out, where the ancient image of Our Lady of Nazaré continues to be venerated with great piety.

For centuries, the Shrine of Our Lady of Nazaré was one of the principal Marian devotions of central Portugal, attracting pilgrims from all regions of the country and even from abroad.

Numerous miracles are attributed to the intercession of the Virgin of Nazaré, especially among seafaring folk who led an arduous and dangerous life. The entrance to the bar of Nazaré was (and remains) perilous, with violent waves and treacherous currents. When shipwrecks occurred or danger threatened at sea, the fishermen's wives would climb the promontory of the Sítio and fervently pray for the protection of their loved ones, often on their knees or prostrate before the image.