María Santísima de la O

Although there is only one devotion to the Virgin of la O, the brotherhood that bears her name does so through two images, a sorrowful image that occupies the chapel of the main altar and the other, a liturgical image that is worshipped on a side altar of the church. There is no news of a sorrowful image until 1614, when the silversmith Francisco Ortiz made a liturgical platform worth 2068 reales. The documents that have survived show that it was not until 1863 that the image of the sorrowful Virgin was clearly identified and venerated under the title ‘Nuestra Señora de La O en sus Dolores’ (Our Lady of La O in her Grief), probably the same image that Pedro Roldán carved for the Archconfraternity in 1667 and which, after many vicissitudes and extensive interventions, was kept until 1936.

As a result of the damage caused to the image during the violent attack on the parish church on 20 July 1936, which Antonio Castillo Lastrucci considered irreparable, the Board of Governance decided on 20 October 1936 to commission a new image of a sorrowful image from the aforementioned artist. It was consecrated on 22 March 1937.

The image of María Santísima de La O (Most Blessed Mary of La O) expresses an immense inner pain, expressed in a face that is at once serene and suffering for the passion of Christ. Her title, La O, is a synonym of hope and comes from the great antiphonies or O’s that announce Christmas in the Liturgy of the Hours eight days before Christmas and that begin with the letter O.