Though usually associated with the pilgrimage destination, Santiago de Compestella, St. James also has ties to a basilica in Saragossa, Spain, where tradition says Our Lady appeared to him at a time of personal trial, leaving in her memory a small image of herself and the Child Jesus, enthroned on a pillar.
The Mother of God told St. James not to worry, that the people to whom he preached would not only be converted, but they would one day have faith as strong as the pillar on which she stood. She gave the pillar and the statue to St. James and asked that a church be built on the spot in her honor…
Read more: The First Marian Apparition in Church History: Our Lady of the Pillar
