The Piece of the Month for April 2026

THREE MORE VOTIVE OFFERINGS DOCUMENTED IN LUQUIN

Ricardo Fernández Gracia
Chair of Navarrese Heritage and Art

The Basilica of Los Remedios in Luquin is undoubtedly unique in that it is dedicated to two Marian titles, with both images presiding over its altarpiece, despite episcopal reservations in the 18th century. It is also a place that offers a collection of elements which, together with a spectacular sanctuary, shaped popular piety in centuries past: devotional prints, some of A ; petition boxes with which supplicants traveled through towns and valleys, both within and outside Navarre; as well as votive offerings that bore witness to the powerful intercession of the Virgins of Luquin.

Among the lost items, it is worth noting all the small wax and metal pieces that commemorated the healing of so many people. In the accounts for 1757–1758, we find an entry in favor of Lucas de Mena, for “a ladder with twenty-two rungs that he made for the Virgin and some long rods that were placed inside the two chapels to hang the miracles because they did not fit on the ones that were there before.” As in other places, and particularly in Mexico, votive offerings made of wax, metal, and other materials are called “milagros.” Ultimately, it was miracles of all kinds and healings that attested to the Virgin’s miraculous intervention in response to all manner of needs—droughts, frosts, diseases, wars, and plagues.

We discussed three of these painted votive offerings a couple of years ago in our monograph on the topic Navarre. On this occasion, we will discuss three others that have disappeared, although a photographic reproduction of one of them exists, dating from around 1920.

As we have mentioned reference letter other occasions, the primary purpose of votive offerings was to express gratitude, but they also served report commemorate the event, thereby contributing to the fame of the intercessor and evoking emotions and reactions in all who viewed the offering. 

The reduction of a ship

Today, the miraculous rescue of the ship commanded by Don Pedro Colmenares from a fatal drift in 1794 is depicted in one of the paintings on Wayside Cross the basilica, which was likely repainted in 1920 by Blas Usechi. However, that event was once more vividly present in the past, because the interior of the church housed something far more tangible and, therefore, of greater significance: nothing less than a wooden model of that ship saved from the sea.

The event being commemorated took place in 1794 and is one of three subject votive subject that have been preserved in Navarre, along with the one from Caparroso and the one from Sangüesa dedicated to St. Francis Xavier. The mural depicts Don Pedro Colmenares’s ship adrift in 1794. He is identified as the ship’s captain who, between 1794 and 1796, commanded the 74-gun ship “San Fermín,” launched in the port of Pasajes in 1782. In 1794, Colmenares had been promoted from frigate captain to ship captain, and in September of that same year—the year of the votive offering—the ship belonged to the Ocean Squadron in the Bay of Cádiz.

According to an account of miracles preserved in the file , “Don Antonio Barceló, Admiral of the Navy, and Captain Don Pedro Colmenares, finding themselves in grave danger at sea in the year 1794, turned in their distress to the North Star and were immediately rescued; as sample gratitude, they were very generous to this Basilica, and as a trophy they brought that small ship which is in the nave of the Basilica.” This written account places Colmenares alongside the famous General Antonio Barceló, a privateer, sailor, and one of the great idols of the people in the second half of the 18th century.

This small ship would be the second votive offering of this subject Navarre. The other was in the collegiate church of Roncesvalles. In the collegiate church’s accounts for 1745, there is an entry in which the canon of the hospital noted the following: “Sixty reales spent on wages and refreshments for the men who, from Usúrbil, carried on their shoulders the privateer ship that Don Manuel de Aizpurúa, a resident of Usúrbil and shipbuilder, has dedicated and donated to the Church of this Royal House in recognition of the special favors he acknowledges owing to Our Lady of Roncesvalles, since his shipbuilding projects have always turned out well, having been constructed with materials purchased in Roncesvalles from the forests on his property, known as Iria and Andara. And having been accepted by the chapter, by its order, it has been placed in the Church, as a memento and report the favors owed to such a protector.” The documentation confirms the custom that existed in the Basque Country of sending such subject , as evidenced in major shrines such as Our Lady of Itziar in Deva, Arrate in Eibar, Holy Christ of Lezo, or Holy Cross of Motrico, among others. 

Text from the registration the votive painting by Pedro Colmenares, 1794. Basilica of Luquin. Photo by J. L. Larrión

Two more painted ones

News provided by Miguel Imas in the chronicle of the sanctuary’s bicentennial—a very rare publication—informs us of its existence; in one instance, he transcribes the text, and in another, he includes a photograph which, though of poor quality, serves as a magnificent example of a style frequently seen in this genre of paintings. 

The first contained the following explanatory text: “María Catalina Gil, daughter of Martín Gil and Antonia, residents of the town of Cirauqui, having lost the use of her arms, was offered by her parents to Our Lady of Los Remedios, and she was immediately healed of her illness. Year 1716.” 

The piece has not survived, and, along with others such as “the numerous votive offerings, some of them displayed in their respective cases, photographs, inscriptions…,” it was still in the basilica in 1920, according to the testimony of Manuel Imas in the aforementioned publication. Much of the blame for these disappearances must be attributed to the context, as the final decades of the 19th century and the first half of the 20th were times when certain arts, those labeled “popular,” suffered greatly, lacking both social recognition and appreciation from specialists. Furthermore, votive offerings were viewed as expressions of an outdated religiosity that needed to be overcome. The consequence was their near-total loss and destruction. The few that remain today bear witness to vanished customs and traditions, serving as sources for our knowledge the past.

As for the protagonist, we can provide surname : her mother’s name was Antonia Pérez, and she appears in several court records from the first third of the 18th century, alongside her husband Martín Gil, as residents of Cirauqui. The file of Santa Catalina de Cirauqui lists María Catalina Gil Pérez as having been baptized on August 27, 1798, as the daughter of Martín Gil Urabayen and Antonia Pérez Iriarte. The fact that the family lived in the town, where the alms collectors from the sanctuary of Luquin would come to collect donations, and that they were close to Mañeru—where there was even a wine press for harvesting grapes for the sanctuary—easily explains why they entrusted the girl to the Virgin of Los Remedios.

A photograph of the second painted votive offering was published. Due to its poor quality, we can barely make out the text on the lower panel. It reads as follows: “MARI BLAS DEL / RIBEROS FOUND / DOSE SERIOUSLY / ILL THE OFFERING / HER PARENTS CLOSED / TO NA SA OF THE REME / GOD AND THEN ... SAVED / 1782”. The girl wears a long skirt, and at least a couple of amulets hang from her belt: a Gospel case and a badger’s claw with its claws clearly visible. The latter was used to ward off the evil eye, as its many tiny hairs would distract the caster of the evil eye, who would become trapped by them, forced to count them. As for the Gospels, they were usually placed in elegant, embroidered cases, and their text was printed in small letters with the opening of the Gospel of St. John. That text was often accompanied by monastic rules, in the belief that they prevented evil. Alarcón Román notes that, according to some researchers such as Salillas, they may have replaced other pagan amulets, and the Church may have promoted them to counter superstitions. For G. Llompart, they served as a kind of talisman or protective charm, viewed as objects of blessing and protection, always with the memory of Christ’s salvation and redemption.

At the top of the painting, on one side, are depictions of Our Lady of Remedios and the Miracle, which appear to have been added to the original canvas. On the other side is the Franciscan emblem featuring the crossed arms of the wounded Christ and Saint Francis of Assisi, placing the work within the context of the Franciscan Order.

Painted votive offering by Mari Blas del Riberos, 1782. Photo from the book *La Virgen de Luquin* by Miguel Imás, 1920

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

file and General file of Navarre. Royal Courts. Case No. 334686. Year 1721. By Martín Gil and Antonia Pérez, his wife, residents of Cirauqui, against Juan Pérez, his brother, son and beneficiary of María de Iriarte, resident of Cirauqui, regarding payment of 280 ducats from bequest of María de Iriarte
Cirauquifile . Book I of Baptisms of the Parish of Santa Catalina, fol. 160 r. and v.
AGUIRRE SORONDO, A.,“Los exvotos,”[last enquiry April 10, 2026]
ALARCÓN ROMÁN, C., Catalog Amulets from the Museo del Pueblo Español, Madrid, Ministry of Culture. General Administration Fine Arts and Archives, 1987, p. 41
FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., Painted Votive Offerings in Navarre, Pamplona, Chair Navarrese Heritage and Art, 2023
IMAS SAINZ DE UGALDE, M., The Virgin of Luquin: report the Second Centenary, Pamplona, Diocesan Press, 1920
IBARRA, J. de, History of Roncesvalles, Pamplona, La Acción Social Printing Works, 1936, p. 762
LLOMPART, G., “Two Notes on Levantine Religious Folklore. Baptismal Gospels and Pilgrims in Representation,” Journal of Dialectology and Popular Traditions, XXII (1966), p. 14
O'Donnell y Duque de Estrada, H.,“Antonio Barceló y Pont de Terra”, [last enquiry April 10, 2026]
ODRIOZOLA OYARBIDE, L.,“Aizpurua, Manuel de”, Diccionario Biográfico de la Real Academia de la Historia, enquiry July enquiry , 2023