Image of St. James with Our Lady of the Pillar in Burgos Cathedral, Spain

Happy Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar! I just love this story...of how St. James was feeling discouraged in his mission, and Our Lady appeared to him to cheer him! It is actually not an apparition, but a manifestation...because the Blessed Virgin was still living in Ephesus in the home of St. John at the time. She "merely" bilocated to Saragossa, Spain to encourage James to keep working for the salvation of souls. She showed herself on top of a pillar, and that pillar is preserved in that place to this day!

There is also a tie-in to today's American holiday of Columbus Day. When Christopher Columbus's sailors were becoming discouraged on that long first voyage across the Atlantic, he made a deal with them. If land was not sighted by the Feast of Our Lady of the Pillar (today), he would turn back. To the great benefit of many Americans, they found land at 2 a.m. on October 12th, and the rest, as they say, is history! Our Lady thereby encouraged her faithful son Christopher Columbus in his desire to bring the light of the Faith to the Indies (or new lands), as she had encouraged St. James.

A Basilica has been built over the site of Our Lady's coming to Spain:

And I had the privilege of kissing the small exposed oval of the pillar in this basilica, in 2005:

And finally, a few words of encouragement for us today:

"The desires of the Heart of Mary are likewise concerned about our own individual improvement in spirit; for this, above all else, is the wish of her Beloved Son...And these aspirations of the Queen of Heaven can easily be fulfilled. Nothing extraordinary, nothing great or melodramatic is required. Just a simple performing of daily tasks, but into this performance is injected a verve, an eclat, which perfects these duties and renders them simple and easy in the extreme. This enthusiasm arises from our imitation of Mary -- our own dear Mother."

~ David P. McAstocker, SJ, Herself, imprimatur 1934.