Almost at midnight, but still on Saturday, January 19, The Mother of God in Her Life Mobile came to Villanueva de la Jara in the province of Cuenca.
Despite the delay an escort of as many as six police cars waited for the Mother of God at the entrance to the town. The police also kept order at all the crossings. The Life Mobile with its lights on, with flags and the mysteriously glowing Icon of Our Lady looked magnificent and was visible from far away.
The Mother of God stopped at the Convent of St Anna with the Carmelite Sisters. Alghough it was really late a crowd of about 200 people waited in the chapel. The pastor fr. Jesus Munoz welcomed the Mother of God and led the prayers in the intention of the defence of life. There was the exposition of the Most Blessed Sacrament and the Holy Rosary was said for the defence of life and family. The faithful prayed till 1.30 AM, but later The Carmelite Sister did not let the Icon be left alone and kept vigil with Her praying till the morning.
On Sunday at 9 in the morning the Holy Eucharist was attended by a crowd of over 200 people. People prayed individually at the Icon untill 4.30 PM.
Next, in a solemn procession the Icon of Our Lady was carried along the main streets of the town to the basilica. This old Gothic church had too little space to accomodate all the people gathered and many had to stay in the street in front of the basilica. At the celebrations a Polish woman born in Wadowice made a speech. She is now living in Villanueva de la Jara as she had married a Spanish man. She talked about how important for Poland and the Poles the Icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa is.
The Mayor of the town in her speech stated on behalf of all, that the inhabitants of Villanueva de la Jara are faithful to Christ and confirmed the Christian roots of Spain and Europe. She also presented the town with the gift from the Town Council – a memorial plate commemorating the visit of Our Lady of Częstochowa in their town.
A solemn procession in the streets of the town with an orchestra playing, involved over 600 people. (The town has around 2 thousand inhabitants.)
In the evening at 6 PM the Icon of Our Lady of Częstochowa left in Her beautifully lit Life Mobile for Cuenca. However, it stopped on the way at the House of the Elderly “EL Parador”. The elderly residents, very excited, welcomed the Mother of God with poetry written by themselves. It was a very emotional and nice meeting.