Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Nazaré is an imposing Marian shrine that memorializes an ancient miracle that occurred under the intercession of the Virgin Mary. It is located on the hilltop called O Sítio, overlooking Nazaré, in Portugal, and was founded in the 14th century.According to the Legend of Nazaré the sheriff of Porto de Mós, Dom Fuas Roupinho, maybe a templar, was chasing on horseback a deer up a hilltop on a misty September morning in 1182 . When the deer jumped over the edge of the hilltop into the void, his fiery horse was about to follow. Then the knight invoked the intervention of the Madonna, who made the horse turn away through a supernatural effort and saved the life of the knight. Subsequently, a chapel A Ermida da Memoria, was built very near this spot, over a grotto where stood a small statue of a Black Madonna, brought from Nazareth. Near the chapel one can see the imprint of the horseshoe in the rock.

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