[3] The entire European continent was consecrated under the protection of Our Lady of Europe in the early 14th century from the Shrine in Gibraltar where devotion continues to this day, over 700 years on.

Muslim troops built a fortress and a mosque at Europa Point at the southernmost part of Gibraltar, located just across from the North African coast.

In 1462 King Henry IV recaptured Gibraltar and restored the devotion to Our Lady of Europe initiated by his grandfather, Ferdinand, once again transforming the ancient mosque into a Christian Shrine.

Another historian, Fray Jerónimo de la Concepción, in his work Cadiz Ilustrada (1690), also records many such miracles which occurred in Gibraltar.

He was caught in a heavy storm at night, thrown into the turbulent sea, and considered himself lost only praying to Our Lady of Europe for help.

The original statue was to return to Gibraltar as requested so long as an exact replica would be carved and placed in the Chapel of Our Lady of Europe in Algeciras.

[16] As the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe remained in military hands, the statue was provisionally placed in the Loreto Convent, at the time located in front of the governor's official residence in Main Street.

During his stay in Rome, Scandella succeeded in bringing the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe to the attention of the Pope, thus the donation of the altar.

Its front piece depicted the Coat of arms of Pope Pius IX and that of Bishop Scandella, together with a monogram of Our Lady of Europe.

With regard to the former, he officially asked the Sacred Congregation for the Evangelisation of Peoples to intercede for its petition with the Pope John Paul II.

[25] In 2002, on the occasion of his ad limina visit to Rome, Bishop Caruana took with him the statue of Our Lady of Europe, for the Pope John Paul II to bless and crown her.

[6] Therefore, Bishop Caruana requested the Holy See to authorised a jubilee year to be celebrated on the 7th centenary of the foundation of devotion to Our Lady of Europe.

The authorisation was duly granted by the Pope Benedict XVI and the Bishop Caruana opened a "jubilee year" on 12 May 2008, with a Solemn Mass.

During the mass, the Shrine and the Roman Catholic Diocese in Gibraltar received the Golden Rose, a rare gift bestowed by the Pope.

It was led by Bishop Caruana, and Mayor Solomon Levy and it carried the gift of a replica statue of Our Lady of Europe.

Some days earlier, a pilgrimage of Spanish worshipers proceeded from La Línea to the Shrine of Our Lady of Europe in Gibraltar.

[31][32] On April 15, Bishop Caruana had held a conference in San Roque with the title "Our Lady of Europe: 700 years of history of the devotion of this land to the Mother of God".

[34] In addition to these celebrations, Bishop Caruana authored the book History of Our Lady of Europe, published by the Vatican Press as part of the commemoration.

[39] In March 2010, an International Marian Congress was to be held in Gibraltar, with the themes Mary, a sign of Christian identity; religion, anthropology, history and art.

It was composed in the late 1950s with music by Louis Diaz and lyrics by Elio Cruz[41][42] (the author of the famous plays La Lola se va pá Londre and Connie con cama camera en el comedor).

[41] The hymn has become part of the popular culture of Gibraltar and has been compared to the patriotic song Llévame Donde Nací in the way Gibraltarians identify with it.

[41] The Plegaria was traditionally performed live as the last song (before God Save The Queen) on Radio Gibraltar's open day.

At present, a statue of Our Lady of Europe is venerated in the cloistered Convent of the Augustinians Recollects in Medina Sidonia under the name of "La Galeota".

From an iconographic point of view, the statue resembled a piece of medieval art, as Our Lady is seated and wearing a crown.

[45] During the eighteenth century, the confraternity developed an intense activity, celebrating Our Lady's feast day each 8 September as well as public daily praying of the rosary.

[46] The Gibraltar priest Diego de Astorga y Céspedes, born in 1664, was the main person accountable for spreading the devotion to Our Lady of Europe to the Spanish capitals of Madrid and Barcelona.

While leading the Diocese of Barcelona, De Astorga noticed a statue on an archway in Manresa that reminded him to that of Our Lady of Europe in Gibraltar.

[53] The movement, supported by the Archbishop of Milan, decided to place a statue in the Italian Dolomites, in the hydrological centre of Europe, since it was the watershed separating the basins of the Rhine, the Danube and the Po.

[53] The Shrine of Our Lady of Europe (Italian: Santuario di Nostra Signora d'Europa) is currently the headquarters of the European Ecumenical Centre for Peace.

[40] .. twelve silver lamps, candlesticks, lecterns, crowns, gems and consecrated vessels, the clothes of many families, who had withdrawn there, and when there was nothing else to rob, they broke off the head of the statue which is so venerated in Spain and the child Jesus and threw it among the stones.