The Virgin of El Rocío will receive this Sunday, September 13, in Almonte, Huelva (Andalusia) the first pilgrimages of brotherhoods in an exceptional season: during the coming months they will not have as their usual destination the Sanctuary of the village of El Rocío, but the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption, where the Patroness of Almonte currently remains.
The filial brotherhoods of Los Palacios and Villafranca, Castrense, Chiclana de la Frontera and Fuengirola will open the calendar of annual pilgrimages before the Virgin. Their stay in Almonte will last about nine months and also coincides with the celebration of the Jubilee Year granted on the occasion of the Coming of Our Lady of El Rocío.
The Virgin will remain nine months in Almonte
The image of Our Lady of El Rocío was transferred from her Sanctuary to Almonte between August 19 and 20, in fulfillment of the traditional Coming of the Virgin, which periodically brings the White Dove from the village to the town of which she is Patroness.
As explained by the Matriz Brotherhood of Our Lady of El Rocío, the Virgin will remain for the following nine months in the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption.
During this period, “all the Rocío reality that takes place in the Sanctuary,” including the pilgrimages of the brotherhoods, will be carried out in the Almonte temple.
The stay also coincides with the Jubilee Year opened last August 15, the solemnity of the Assumption of the Virgin. The bishop of Huelva, Santiago Gómez Sierra, then presided at the Sanctuary of El Rocío over the Eucharist and the rite of opening the jubilee granted on the occasion of the Coming of the Patroness to Almonte, as reported by the Diocese of Huelva.
Four brotherhoods open the pilgrimages this Sunday
The calendar published by the Matriz Brotherhood begins this Sunday at 10:00 a.m. with the annual pilgrimage of the filial Brotherhood of Los Palacios and Villafranca, from Seville.
At 11:00 a.m. it will be the turn of the Castrense Brotherhood, also filial and linked to Seville. One hour later, at 12:00 p.m., the Brotherhood of Chiclana de la Frontera, from Cádiz, will make its pilgrimage, and at 1:00 p.m. the one from Fuengirola, from Málaga, will do so.
The four celebrations will take place in the parish of Our Lady of the Assumption in Almonte, before the Virgin of El Rocío.
In the following weeks, filial and affiliated brotherhoods will continue to arrive, as well as other Rocío corporations and associations from different parts of Spain. The next turn will come on Saturday, September 19, with Arroyo de la Miel, while on Sunday the 20th new pilgrimages are scheduled, including those of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Salteras and Málaga La Caleta.
The annual pilgrimages, distinct from the Pentecost Pilgrimage
These pilgrimages are part of the ordinary calendar of the brotherhoods during the season and are distinct from the massive Pilgrimage of El Rocío celebrated around Pentecost.
Each brotherhood has an assigned date to make its pilgrimage and celebrate the Eucharist before Our Lady of El Rocío. Normally these rites are held in the Sanctuary of the village, but the presence of the Virgin in Almonte during this season moves the celebrations to the parish that welcomes her.
The Matriz Brotherhood itself calls each of these appointments an “annual pilgrimage,” although the whole forms part of the traditional period of extraordinary pilgrimages that follows the Pilgrimage.
The Virgin of El Rocío and Almonte
The Virgin’s stay in the town is part of a historical relationship that goes far beyond the Pentecost Pilgrimage. One of its expressions is the Rocío Chico, which each August recalls the Vow of Thanksgiving made by the people of Almonte in 1813, during the Napoleonic invasion.
In the 2024 celebration, the bishop of Huelva recalled the duty to transmit the faith received and to preserve the heritage of previous generations, and claimed love for one’s own town and for the homeland as a virtue.
Read also: Mons. Santiago Gómez: “Love for our town and for the homeland is a virtue”
During the coming months it will be the brotherhoods that make their pilgrimage to Almonte. In spring the reverse journey will come: Our Lady of El Rocío will return to her Sanctuary for the Pentecost Pilgrimage of 2027.