Our Lady of the Head: pilgrimage and prayer before the crowned image

Make the prescribed pilgrimage and spend suitable time in prayer or Christian devotion before the crowned image publicly exposed for veneration.

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Time required No numeric minimum: allow for the pilgrimage and suitable prayer before the exposed crowned image.

When: 4 October 2026–8 December 2027, within each church’s designated dates and while the crowned image is publicly exposed
Where: Royal Shrine and Minor Basilica of Nuestra Señora de la Cabeza, Andújar; Santa María la Mayor, Andújar; Jaén Cathedral, Spain, within their separately authorized periods
Who: All eligible faithful making the prescribed pilgrimage and prayer before the publicly exposed crowned image
Application: Self or the departed

The prescribed work

Make a pilgrimage to an authorized jubilee church during its designated period, and there pray before the crowned image of Our Lady of the Head publicly exposed for veneration.
Spend suitable time in pious meditation, prayer or another work of Christian devotion for God’s glory. Pray for peace and concord among peoples and against present errors; conclude with the Our Father, Creed and invocations to Mary, Queen of Peace and Mother of Mercy.
Be truly repentant, moved by charity and detached from every sin; fulfil sacramental confession, Eucharistic Communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions.
The shrine is authorized throughout 4 October 2026–8 December 2027. Santa María la Mayor is authorized on 18–25 September and 2–30 October 2027, and Jaén Cathedral on 25 September–2 October 2027, during the image’s stay there.

The work and its conditions

A plenary indulgence also requires complete detachment from every sin, sacramental confession, Holy Communion, and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, subject to the grant’s stated exceptions. The ordinary limit is one plenary indulgence per day.

Conditions common to every indulgence

The person gaining an indulgence must be baptized, not excommunicated, and in the state of grace at least when the prescribed works are completed. There must be at least a general intention to gain indulgences, and the prescribed work must be performed at the time and in the manner required by the grant.

Read the full conditions and norms. The cited grant and its specific provisions govern.

Time required

Read each branch with its own conditions. An editorial estimate is not a prescribed minimum.

Shrine: pilgrimage and prayer before the publicly exposed crowned image

Duration varies

Time for the prescribed pilgrimage, suitable prayer or devotion, intercessions and concluding prayers.

No fixed number of minutes is stated; the decree requires suitable time. Include the pilgrimage activity and the full prescribed prayer work, rather than timing only the concluding prayers. The shrine is authorized throughout the jubilee term, but the crowned image must actually be publicly exposed there; check its itinerary.

Timing sources

Santa María la Mayor: pilgrimage and prayer during the image’s authorized stays

Duration varies

Time for the prescribed pilgrimage, suitable prayer or devotion, intercessions and concluding prayers.

No fixed number of minutes is stated; the decree requires suitable time. Include the pilgrimage activity and the full prescribed prayer work, rather than timing only the concluding prayers. Authorized on 18–25 September and 2–30 October 2027 while the crowned image is present and publicly exposed.

Timing sources

Jaén Cathedral: pilgrimage and prayer during the image’s authorized stay

Duration varies

Time for the prescribed pilgrimage, suitable prayer or devotion, intercessions and concluding prayers.

No fixed number of minutes is stated; the decree requires suitable time. Include the pilgrimage activity and the full prescribed prayer work, rather than timing only the concluding prayers. Authorized on 25 September–2 October 2027 while the crowned image is present and publicly exposed.

Timing sources

What the time estimate excludes

Ordinary travel to and from the venue, and waiting outside the prescribed work
Separate confession, Communion and prayer for the Pope’s intentions, except where a branch expressly includes the prescribed celebration

Stated start: 4 October 2026
Stated end: 8 December 2027

Occasion and source notes

This is the suitable-prayer alternative in the original Apostolic Penitentiary decree. The crowned image’s public exposure is required; a photograph or an arbitrary image is not substituted. The shrine’s authorization throughout the term does not establish that the image is present there on every day.

Prayer texts and resources

Follow the prayer count and formula specified in the requirements. The two Creed readers are alternatives.

Source and exact reference

Prayer texts and grants have separate source histories. Consult the grant source for the prescribed work, occasion, and conditions.