Saint Mary Of Africa, Ceuta

The image of Saint Mary of Africa, donated by Henry the Navigator, originated a strong devotion in Ceuta that remains alive in the city.

 

The image

The image is an expressive representation of Our Lady of Sorrows or Our Lady of Piety. Enthroned, Our Lady holds in her arms the body of her Son, originally crowned with thorns. In her left hand, the Virgin holds the meaningful staff - Aleo - belonging to Pedro de Meneses (1370-1437), the first governor of Ceuta.

The image was donated by Henry the Navigator (1394-1460) a few years after the conquest of Ceuta in 1415. Prince Henry clearly indicated that the image was to be invoked as Saint Mary of Africa, and ordered the building of a church: (...) those to whom I sent a very devout image of Saint Mary, ordering it to be named Saint Mary of Africa, and to be placed in the said house and so they did and ordained (1).

Although the author and the date of the image are unknown, it is likely to be of Portuguese origin with Germanic influence.

It is a polychrome cedar wood sculpture, almost entirely carved from a single block of wood. According to experts, it is meant for the altarpiece, as it is not carved on the back.

The Aleo staff, associated with the Portuguese conquest of Ceuta in 1415, is probably still the original one that Pedro de Meneses wielded when he was appointed the first governor by King João I (1357-1433). In 1651, it was given to Saint Mary of Africa by the then local governor, João Soares de Alarcão e Melo (c. 1600-1669), in recognition and gratitude, as the city had been spared to the epidemic that was spreading across the south of the Iberian Peninsula.

After Ceuta became under the Castilian rule, the image was covered over the centuries with rich vestments and other adornments, much to the taste of local devotion, and two crowns were also added.

The image was fully restored in 1991.The original colours were returned to the sculpture ensemble, and important structural details were revealed.

The representation of Virgin Mary with the dead body of Christ in her arms after He had been descended from the Cross was particularly widespread in Portugal. The first Pietà appeared in Germanic territory in the late 13^th century - Vesperbild - and spread throughout Europe during the following century.

This devotion reached Portugal, probably brought along by the mendicant orders. By the end of the 13^th century, there were already several churches and chapels with this invocation. One of the most significant was the chapel of Our Lady of Sorrows founded by Gil Aires (c. 1370-1437), personal clerk of Nuno Álvares Pereira (1360-1431), in the Convent of Carmo in Lisbon, contemporary with the image of Saint Mary of Africa.

 

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Africa

The building of the church was ordered by Henry the Navigator, possibly during the first period of Portuguese occupation: (...) And, after we had taken the land and departed from it, I left there some of my own, namely: Joham Pereira (...), to guard and defend it. All of whom together, with the fervour of devotion and zeal that they had for the Christian religion and the salvation of their souls, in my name, by my authority, asked for a church so they could there attend mass; (...) I immediately ordered the said church to be built (...). A commendam was also set (...) and making it a commendam, of which Friar Diogo Alvarez was the first commendator" (1).

João Pereira, Captain of three hundred Squires, was entrusted by Prince Henry with the guardianship of Saint Mary of Africa: "João Pereira, also known as Agostinho, became Captain of three hundred Squires, left there by Prince Henry, who entrusted him with the guardianship of Saint Mary of Africa..." (2).

It was fully built by 1426, the year that Pedro de Meneses married for the third time: (...) Count Pedro, here at the wedding, being remarried to Dona Britis Coutinha, (...) with all the flags (...) and that is how they were taken to Saint Mary of Africa in a huge and joyful Procession (3). The original building must have been quite modest.

The parish of Santa Maria de África was created and became the first Portuguese parish in this continent. It was a parish as early as 1434, the year Prince Henry requested Pope Eugenius IV (1383-1447) to extend its boundaries to include Tetouan, Vale d'Ângere and Alcácer-Ceguer. The respective brotherhood or confraternity is likely to date back to the same period.

In 1443, Pope Eugenius IV (1383-1447) granted the parish and the church to the Order of Christ, made it a Commendam, and agreed to include the said lands of Tetouan, Vale d'Ângere, and Alcácer-Ceguer, when they were conquered from the Moors.

In 1460, Henry the Navigator confirmed the origin of the image and the church of Saint Mary of Africa. He also ordered a weekly mass to be held on Saturdays for his soul in all the churches of Our Lady ordained by him, including Saint Mary of Africa: I hereby ask and order the chaplain in charge of the said Saint Mary of Africa (...) and any other chaplains and vicars who may be in the future, in my life or after my death, to always, with the grace and help of God, (...).) celebrate mass for my soul every Saturday; (...) may the celebration be in the Holy Spirit, with the responsory and the prayer of Fidelium Deus (4).

The church was greatly damaged in 1560, as one can infer from the request for restoration works made to the Queen Regent Catarina "because it is very old and it rains inside as much as outside (...). It underwent successive restoration campaigns throughout the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

In 1604, the historic Statutes of the Brotherhood of Our Lady of Africa were reformed with reference to its former institution: The Brotherhood that used to exist here.

In 1676, it became the seat of the Diocese when it was transferred from the church of Our Lady of the Assumption.

At the beginning of the 18^th century, the building of the present church took off during the tenure of Sancho de Belunza (1652-1731), to enlarge the original chapel and erect a new body. The gilded main altarpiece, funded by Bishop Martín Barcia (1702-1771), was solemnly inaugurated on the 5^th August 1752.

The current vestry and the chancel space are thought to be those of the old chapel.

 

History of the cult

Devotion to Saint Mary of Africa began as soon as Ceuta was conquered. Prince Fernando (1402-1443) and Prince Henry turned to her in 1437, on their way to Tangier: The Princes left the ships and immediately went to the Church of Saint Mary of Africa, where they were in vigil and devotions for part of that day and night: the next day they attended mass (...) (5).

This invocation also spread to the region. A reference to the Boat of Saint Mary of Africa, possibly one of the vessels carrying supplies to Ceuta, dates back to 1455.

In 1460, Prince Henry referred to the Saint’s reputed and miraculous intercession: Virgin Mary, by her endless and holy mercy and with the addition of our faith, works many miracles, and the Christian devotees who live in the said city and other communities, both from the regions of Castile and from the region of the Algarve, and many Christian captives who lie in Moorish land, have great faith in her (4).

King Fernando II (1430-1483), 3^rd Duke of Bragança and married to one of the daughters of the first governor of Ceuta, credited the Virgin of Africa with his salvation in the second Moroccan campaign: The Duke of Bragança - Fernando II, his name, and III Duke, who went to Africa twice, endured the storm the second time, (...) and arrived in Ceuta nearly lost, dedicated great devotion to the Lady of Africa, and had entrusted himself to her, and so he attributed his salvation to our Lady of Africa (6).

The good reputation of the Virgin of Africa’s powerful intercession, especially in times of epidemic or affliction, attracted pilgrims from various parts of Ceuta and the vicinity.

Processions to the Sanctuary of Saint Mary of Africa are likely to have taken place from the very beginning, one of them during the wedding of Pedro de Meneses in 1426. However, the record of the first procession with the image is dated 8^th April 1602, during the rule of Afonso de Noronha (1602 - 1605), when facing the threat of the plague that was raging in the city, according to Correa de França's account (1767): the clergy and the City, on the 8^th April 1602, came to the cathedral in a procession of tears and sighs to the miraculous image of Our Lady of Africa, merciful mother and refuge of these citizens. The prayers and penances continued and, on the 8^th May, some improvement was felt and, as the supplications continued, the divine wrath was appeased. On the 13^th July, in a procession of grace and joy, this sacred image was returned to its former chapel (4).

On the 9^th February 1651, when the epidemic once again threatened the city coming from Gibraltar, the population and their governor, João Soares Alarcão e Melo (c. 1600-1669), took the image in procession to the old viewpoint of São Sebastião, opposite the Strait, begging for the intercession of Our Lady of Africa. On this occasion, in thanksgiving for having saved Ceuta from the epidemic, Saint Mary of Africa was appointed patron saint of the city, and the famous Aleo staff, preserved since the conquest of Ceuta, was placed in the Virgin's hands. This was the beginning of a tradition that still holds today.

In 1946, Saint Mary of Africa was canonically crowned and since then the saint has been taken out in procession every year on the 5^th August, her feast day, with only a few exceptions for preservation reasons. Pope Pius XII officially granted her patronage in 1949, and she was declared the Patron Saint of Ceuta, the consolation, love and hope of all Ceutans. In 1954 she was appointed Alcadesa Perpetua de Ceuta by the city's Ayuntamiento.

The memory of Saint Mary of Africa has also persisted in Portugal.

Friar Agostinho da Silva refers to her mighty intercession as the main defender of Ceuta, in the Marian Sanctuary (1720) - although there is some confusion with the image of the Virgin of the Assumption, from the Cathedral of Ceuta: (...) Our Lady of Africa (...) its main Governor, and defender. And so, in all the assaults and sieges with which the Moors sought to recover it from the power of the Christians, that Lady, sovereign Warrior, marvellously defended it. He also mentions this devotion in different African conquests: Kings always used to carry the image of the Lady of Africa before their armies (6).

Alfredo Pimenta's work (1935) has an engraving of Our Lady of Africa with the caption: Image of the patron saint of the Portuguese, existing in Ceuta, which preserves the staff that belonged to Pedro de Menezes, the first captain of that city. It was also referenced in the work of Jacinto Reis (1967).

 

Traditions

There are currently many and varied traditions associated with Saint Mary of Africa.

During the Patron Saint's Festivities on the 5^th August, a solemn procession is held in the city streets, with hundreds of faithful, in memory of her powerful intercession, particularly as the defender of the city and the people of Ceuta in times of epidemic.

In addition to the pilgrimage to the Sanctuary, the traditional ceremony of the Renewal of the Vow takes place on the 9^th February, including the Bastão de Mando - the Aleo - the staff carried by the Mayor and placed next to the venerable image of Our Lady of Africa.

The Paso de Manto is a curious service held on the first Saturday of every month. The original sculpture was not a dressed statue and had no mantle. This was added later on, together with numerous adornments. The restoration work carried out in 1991 emphasised the need to preserve the original form, removing the clothing and accessories that had been added in the meantime. The precious mantles were kept, in various colours according to the festivities of the liturgical calendar.

The Confraternity of Our Lady of Africa - the Primitive, Passionate and Illustrious Confraternity of Knights, Ladies and Court of Princes of Crowned Saint Mary – is thought to date back to the early days of building the church.

The Taking Office ceremony of Ceuta’s rulers opens with the Dean of the Cathedral handing over the Bastão de Mando - the Aleo - to the new governor, who then places it in the hands of the Virgin of Africa.

The Sabatina [Saturday Prayer], a six-century old tradition, is still held on Saturdays in the church of Saint Mary of Africa, in memory of Henry the Navigator's request.

The name of the patron saint is still present in the city's toponymy, in places such as Porta de Santa Maria in the old fortifications through which, according to tradition, entered the image of the Virgin of Africa sent by Prince Henry.

 

Lusitanian Ceuta - the Christian reconquest in Northern Africa

Western Africa was annexed to the Roman Empire around 40 AD and divided into two provinces. Ceuta was part of Tingitan Mauritania. This was when the name Septem Fratres - Seven Brothers – was coined, as the designation given by the Romans to the seven hills in the region (later Septa).

The christianisation of the region, and of the Maghreb in particular, spread rapidly. Conversions multiplied, the faithful organised themselves into dioceses and generally took over the former Roman territorial division. In Ceuta, there are still traces of the so-called late-Roman basilica, witness to the importance of the Christian community in Septem, which survived the Vandal invasions in the 5^th century.

Ceuta was reconquered during the North African campaigns of the Byzantine emperor Justinian (c. 482-565), when a church was built dedicated to the Theotokos or Mother of God, up to this day still unidentified - according to local tradition, the site where the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Africa was built in the 15^th century.

The expansion of the Byzantine Empire in Northern Africa anchored the Christian faith in the territory, with several dioceses and hundreds of parishes before the Arab invasion.

At the beginning of the 8^th century, Muslim forces advanced through the Maghreb, establishing their first major base in Cairão. Tradition has it that Ceuta was handed over to the Arab Caliphate in 709 by nobleman Julião, a Visigoth count, and from then on used as a starting point for the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula.

During the Muslim domain, the Christian communities in the Maghreb were gradually absorbed by the Islamist rule. Ceuta had several rulers: the Idrisid emirate, the Caliphate of Córdoba, the Taifa period, the Almoravids, the Almohads and the Merinids....

The desire to re-christianise this region remained alive in Europe. Northern African bishoprics were created or restored, in partibus infidelium - dioceses appointed in infidel regions which had no effective jurisdiction - namely the diocese of Morocco.

There are references to populations that maintained the Christian traditions.

Duarte Pacheco Pereira (1460-1533) referred to the inhabitants of the Atlas Mountains: (...) in some way they want to keep some part of the Christian faith, because Sunday is very strictly respected, and they do it so solemnly that they do nothing and if any of their adversaries come on that day among them they do him no harm but rather host them with much honour. (...) They tell their way of life and beliefs and tell them how their predecessors were Christians and that they had many books left over from their ancient priests in Latin script, which they kept for the honour and memory of their generation (7).

Jerónimo de Mendonça (c. 1548-1607), in Jornada de África, also referred to the Azuagos as descendants of Christians: When abiding by the law of Christ, all these people, when they were very young, had their fathers draw that divine sign of the holy cross on their faces, so that they could be differentiated from the others, and their descendants, even though Moors, are so fond of this today that they all bear the same signs put on them by their fathers (8).

The conquest of Ceuta in 1415 by the Portuguese took place in the context of re-christianisation, with a Crusade Bull. It is a milestone for the beginning of expansion and the age of discoveries.

Portugal had just recovered land from the Moors with the conquest of the Algarve in 1249. However, Berber piracy and the constant raids on the Algarve coast coming from Northern Africa, particularly from Ceuta, was one of the reasons for the city to be conquered by King João I, a conquest prepared in great detail.

Prince Duarte, and Princes Pedro and Henry as well as a large number of noblemen and knights of the court joined King João I in the undertaking, including the Constable of the Kingdom, Nuno Álvares Pereira.

On the 21^st August 1415, the Portuguese entered through the Almina gate and conquered the city. The main mosque was made into a church and on the following Sunday, the 25^th August, Mass was solemnly held. King João I asked the noblemen present to undertake the challenging governance of the city. As the most prominent noblemen refused, Pedro de Meneses volunteered. According to tradition, the famous phrase was proclaimed - that he would defend Ceuta from the Moors with his staff - a staff made of wild olive tree wood (Aleo).

Ceuta became the Foremost Diocese in Africa in 1420 at the request of King João I, with its seat in the church of Our Lady of the Assumption - the invocation of all the Cathedrals, according to the Portuguese tradition. The choice rested on Friar Aimaro de Aureliano (died 1443), then bishop in partibus infidelium of Morocco.

The conquest of Ceuta - the first spear in Africa, as Constable Nuno Álvares Pereira put it - had an immense impact on both Christianity and the Muslim world.

It was followed by the conquest of several locations throughout the 15^th and the 16^th centuries: Alcácer Ceguer, Arzila, Tangier, Safim, Azamor, Mazagan... The defence and maintenance of all these sites was particularly excruciating. Portugal and Ceuta bear memory of the captivity of the Holy Prince in Tangier during one of the attempts to conquer this city in 1437. The Moors intended to exchange the city for Ceuta, but the Portuguese refused, and the Holy Prince would die in 1443.

During the reign of King João III (1502-1557), some of the sites were abandoned, but Ceuta was firmly held at the cost of many lives and through constant conflict with the surrounding Muslim population.

After the Restoration in 1640, Ceuta came out in favour of the Castilian king and did not acclaim the Duke of Bragança as King of Portugal. The new governors switched sides and swore allegiance to King Philip IV. The last Portuguese bishop, Gonçalo da Silva, died in 1645. Ceuta was definitively taken by the Castilian crown in 1656.

 

Lusitanian Ceuta - the Portuguese legacy

The Portuguese legacy in Ceuta is very much alive and deeply rooted. The Ceutans particularly cherish the heritage of their Lusitanian ancestors. The name itself (Ceuta) is a Portuguese adaptation of the original name of Septa, which comes from the Latin word Septem.

The Christian matrix of the city, implemented during over two hundred years of Ceuta as part of the Portuguese territory, has lasted and been defended by the people of Ceuta to this day. Besides the mighty presence of Saint Mary of Africa in the city's secular devotions and traditions, there are many churches and chapels of Lusitanian origin, particularly the Cathedral and the church of Saint Mary of Africa, the remarkable institution of Misericórdia [Portuguese charity] - one of the first Misericórdias outside the Kingdom - and a large number of primitive invocations of Portuguese origin - Santo Amaro, Santa Catarina, São Sebastião...

The special worship of Saint Anthony, the Portuguese saint who dreamt of christianising the Moorish lands, is still present in the city…...

Many other saints and characters with a reputation for sainthood are worshipped in the city as well: São Nuno de Santa Maria who took part in the conquest of Ceuta in 1415 as Constable of the Kingdom; The Holy Prince, who died in captivity in 1443, in the defence of Ceuta; Santa Beatriz da Silva, probably born in Ceuta in 1424, granddaughter of the first governor; São João de Deus  who worked on the city's fortifications between 1535 and 1538; São Manuel Pacheco, a native of Ceuta, one of the forty Jesuit martyrs killed during their journey to Brazil in 1570.

In civil institutions, the coat of arms of Ceuta stands out, with the Portuguese arms and the coat of arms of Lisbon.

Notable figures remain in the city's memory and toponymy: Pedro de Meneses, the first governor, to whom we owe the famous Aleo; Henry the Navigator, associated with Saint Mary of Africa, patron saint of Ceuta, and the Portuguese expansion after the city was conquered; Afonso de Noronha, governor of Ceuta between 1540 and 1549 and Maria de Eça, the first woman to take over a Northern African captaincy in the absence of her husband in 1548-1549; Luís de Camões, who arrived in Ceuta in 1549, sentenced to exile, and dedicated some of his memorable verses in Canto IV (stanzas 37 and 49) of the Lusíadas, to the city of Ceuta and its valiant captain:

Runs, frantick raging, while her roar and moan

make the Seven-Brother Mountains shake and rave (...).

See ! thousand swimming Birds the silve’ery plain

of Thetis cleave, and spurn her fume and fret,

with bellied wings to seize the wind they strain,

where his extremest mete Alcides set :

Mount Abyla, and dight with tow'er and fane

Ceita, they seize, ignoble Mahomet

they oust : and thus our general Spain secure

from Julian-craft, disloyal and impure

 

1. DIAS, Pedro, História da Arte Portuguesa no Mundo (1415-1822), o Espaço do Atlântico, Lisboa, Círculo dos Leitores, 1999, pp. 63-64.
2. ZURARA, Gomes Eanes – Chronica dos feitos do Conde Dom Pedro de Menezes primeiro Capitão que foi na Cidade de Cepta,  c. 1410-1474, cap. 6.
3. Idem, cap. 21.
4. PEREIRA, Diana Rafaela Martins, A “ymagem assaz deuota” de Santa Maria de África. Cadernos do Arquivo Municipal, 2ª Série, n.º 4. Lisboa, 2015, pp. 155-183.
5. PINA, Ruy de, Chronica de El-Rei D. Duarte, p. 95.
6. SANTA MARIA, Agostinho de, Santuário Mariano (…),Lisboa, na Officina de António Pedrozo Galram, tomo VIII, 1720, pp. 344-345.
7. PEREIRA, Duarte Pacheco, Esmeraldo de Situ orbis, Edição da Imprensa nacional, Lisboa, 1892, p.35.
8. MENDONÇA, Jerónimo, Jornada de África, Biblioteca de Clássicos Portugueses, Volume 38, Escriptório, Lisboa, 1904, p. 49.

 

REFERENCES

• REIS, Jacinto, Invocações de Nossa Senhora em Portugal de Aquém e de Além-mar e seu Padroado, [S.l.: s.n.]. Lisboa, Tipografia da União Gráfica.1967.
• DIAS, Pedro, História da Arte Portuguesa no Mundo (1415-1822), o Espaço do Atlântico, Lisboa, Círculo dos Leitores, 1999.
• AZEVEDO, Carlos, Dicionário da História Religiosa de Portugal  (dir.), Lisboa, Círculo de Leitores, imp., 2000.
• VILLADA PAREDES, Fernando (coord. General), Historia de Ceuta: de los orígenes al ano 2000. Ceuta: Instituto de Estudos Ceutíes, Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta, 2009.
• PEREIRA, Diana Rafaela Martins, A “ymagem assaz deuota” de Santa Maria de África. Cadernos do Arquivo Municipal, 2ª Série, n.º 4. Lisboa, 2015.
• BARCELÓ, José Luis Gomez, Nuestra Señora de África y su Santuário. História de duas cidades. Câmara Municipal de Lisboa, Gobierno de la Ciudad Autónoma de Ceuta. 2015.
• MORALES, Ramón Galindo, Portugal en la Historia de Ceuta. Un pasado que tenemos muy presente, ROMERO-SÁNCHEZ, Guadalupe; GALINDO MORALES, Ramón y CAZALLA CANTO, Silvia (Coords) (2024). ¡Mira por dónde vas! Ceuta como recurso educativo. Ceuta, Universidad de Granada e Instituto de Estudios Ceutíes, 2024.