On June 8, the Pontiff will visit Madrid's cathedral for a time of prayer before the altar of Our Lady of Almudena, one of Madrid's patrons.
Here he will present a Golden Rose, a gift once sent by popes on Laetare Sunday as a token of blessing to Catholic royalty and defenders of the faith, and these days largely reserved for Marian images of great popular devotion.
Leo's namesake, Pope Leo IX, instituted this tradition in 1049. One of Spain's queens and a devotee of Our Lady of Almudena, Isabella II, was the recipient of a Golden Rose in 1868, and three other Spanish Marian images have been so honored.
Who is Our Lady of Almudena?
The image before which Pope Leo XIV will present the Golden Rose is a 16th-century copy of a lost carving around which many legends circulate. The original was reportedly brought to Spain from the Holy Land by the Apostle St. James (Santiago) in the year AD 38.
It was said to have been carved by Nicodemus from cedar and juniper and painted in lifelike colors by St. Luke. St. James gave the image to one of his followers, who built a small chapel for it on a high hill in Madrid.
Because the image was believed to be a holy relic, many visited the shrine and credited Our Lady with miracles.
When the Muslims of North Africa, known in the Middle Ages as the Moors, began to expand their realms into Europe in the 8th century, a fortified wall (almudena in Spanish, from the Arabic al-mudayna) was built around the city.
The Moors first conquered the southern part of France, and then battled the Visigothic Christians for the Iberian peninsula.
The Christians of Madrid, fearing destruction of the miraculous image at the hands of the Muslims -- who outlawed all visual images of persons -- sealed the statue into the wall, leaving two candles burning beside it to show their devotion.
Three centuries passed.
Our Lady reveals herself
By the time the Spanish armies had regained control of Madrid in the 11th century, the chapel had been used as a mosque and no one remembered where the miraculous image of the city's patroness had been hidden. So Our Lady chose, according to legend, to reveal herself.
One story claims that while the Spaniards were still trying to rout the Moors, they laid siege to the citadel where she was concealed, which the Moors were then defending.
Finding no way in to the fortifications, the soldiers prayed for help, and the wall behind which the statue was hidden collapsed, allowing them to gain victorious entry.
The more popular legend gives honor to King Alfonso VI of Castile, who regained Madrid in 1083. Wishing to recover and enthrone the image of Our Lady after his victory, he led his armies and the townspeople in a prayerful procession around the walls.
As they passed the place where the statue was hidden, the stones fell away, revealing a small grotto in which two candles were still burning.
From shrine and citadel to palace and cathedral
Over the years, the original image -- now known as Our Lady of Almudena -- was lost. A copy was commissioned in 1500 and displayed in a rebuilt shrine. When the capital of Spain was moved from Toledo to Madrid in 1561, the monarchy built its palace (the first of several) on the site of a former Moorish alcazar or castle across from the shrine.
But the spiritual capital of Spain remained in Toledo, so Madrid had no cathedral.
Efforts began early to build a church in honor of Our Lady of Almudena, but they were sidelined by Spanish expenditures in the American colonies. (Many Spanish-built cathedrals in the New World predate Madrid's cathedral.)
Finally, in 1885, when Madrid was granted archdiocesan status, plans were begun for a cathedral built in the Gothic Revival style of the time.
But again history intervened. Construction moved slowly, and the Spanish Civil War of the 1930s followed by World War II halted it entirely. Not until 1950 was the project revived, this time with an exterior in the Baroque style to match the latest royal palace across from it.
It took more than 40 years for the cathedral to be completed, with a neo-Romanesque interior featuring modern art and a neo-Gothic crypt. The right side of the main nave contains the altar of Our Lady of Almudena.
She gave her name to the cathedral, which was dedicated by Pope John Paul II in 1996. Its formal name is the Cathedral of St. Mary the Royal of the Almudena, the "royal" referring to its placement near the palace. In a nearby wall is a facsimile of the image with a plaque commemorating its loss and discovery.
With the moon at her feet
In the chapel where the image of Our Lady of Almudena stands, two candles burn on either side of the altar, just as they did for 300 years in legend. At the statue's feet is a silver crescent moon, both a biblical symbol from the book of Revelation (Rev. 12:1) and a Spanish symbol for the defeat of Iberian Islam.
The image rests on an ornate solid silver base (familiarly known as "the tureen" because of its shape) donated to the city in 1640 by King Philip IV. Our Lady and her Son are crowned as members of royalty.
On Monday, June 8, in the afternoon, Pope Leo will pray in her chapel and place the Golden Rose on a special new column at her feet.
Later in the day, the statue will be carried in procession during the Holy Father's meeting with the faithful at Madrid's Bernabéu Soccer Stadium.