Patroness of prisoners, named after a ransom paid for captives: Our Lady of Mercy

✨ September 24 · Our Lady of Mercy (Virgen de las Mercedes): patroness of prisoners, and the story of the friars who ransomed captives Did you know that "doing mercy" once meant gathering alms, coin by coin, to pay for the freedom of a captive on the far side of the Mediterranean? That work, born in 13th-century Barcelona with Peter Nolasco and his companions, is where Our Lady of Mercy takes her name. And when the money fell short, one of the friars stayed behind as a pledge. In this video you'll discover: 💰 What a captive cost in the 13th century (eight to fifteen pounds, the price of a horse) and where the alms to pay for him were begged. 📜 What the Order's memory holds about the night of August 1, 1218, and what the 1226 records and Gregory IX's 1235 bull actually say. ⛪ How the people of Barcelona came to call the church of Saint Mary "La Merced" (1249), and why Peru gave rise to the plural "de las Mercedes". 🔓 Why she has been patroness of Spain's prisons since 1939, after the Order's last ransom of captives in 1779. From Barcelona to Tunis, Algiers, Paita and Tucumán, this documentary follows eight centuries of a single work of mercy: the friars who stayed behind as hostages, St. Maria de Cervelló, Miguel de Cervantes, Manuel Belgrano and the Gothic statue saved in 1936. It respectfully distinguishes the Order's devout memory from what contemporaries left in writing, and it ends with a prayer to the Mother of Mercy. 🙏 Join us for the whole story, from the medieval Mediterranean to the prisons of today. #HistoryOfTheSaints #FidesViva #OurLadyOfMercy #OurLadyOfRansom #VirgenDeLasMercedes #PatronessOfPrisoners 📌 Chapters 0:00 Coin by Coin 4:56 A Night in August and the First Records 9:36 Those Who Stayed 13:09 La Merced 16:21 By Sea, Across the Centuries 22:03 Virgen de las Mercedes 25:49 From Captives to Prisoners 📚 Sources and bibliography Institutional sources Instituto Histórico de la Orden de la Merced, La Orden de Santa María de la Merced (1218-1992). Síntesis histórica (1996) — mercedaragon.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/manual-historia-de-la-orden-mercedaria.pdf Mercedarios de Aragón: La Orden de la Merced acompaña al Santo Padre León XIV en su visita a Catalunya (2026) — mercedaragon.org/la-orden-de-la-merced-acompana-al-santo-padre-leon-xiv-en-su-visita-a-catalunya/ Basílica de la Mare de Déu de la Mercè: La Basílica de la Merced — basilicadelamerce.es/es/ESPIRITUALIDAD/La-Basílica-de-la-Merced.html Archdiocese of Barcelona: the restored statue (2022) and the procession of September 20 (2026) — esglesia.barcelona/es/notes-premsa/la-talla-gotica-de-la-virgen-de-la-merced-regresa-a-su-cambril/ Spanish Bishops' Conference: F. Roselló, ¿Por qué la Virgen de la Merced es Patrona de las prisiones? (2024) — social.conferenciaepiscopal.es/noticias/accion-caritativa/pastoral-penitenciaria/por-que-la-virgen-de-la-merced-es-patrona-de-las-prisiones/ Documents and studies James William Brodman, New perspectives on the creation of the Mercedarian Order Frederick G. Holweck, Feast of Our Lady of Ransom (1911) Other sources consulted: ACI Prensa (Harumi Suzuki, 2021) Reference images: Gothic statue of Our Lady of Mercy (14th century, Basilica de la Mercè, Barcelona) and the altarpiece of the Chapel of Our Lady of Mercy (1688, Barcelona Cathedral) — public domain / Wikimedia Commons. Historical images are recreations. This episode respectfully distinguishes passages of hagiographic and devotional tradition from documented history, always presenting them as the living memory of the Church. The night of 1218, the accounts of the 13th-century redeemers and the Paita tradition are presented as the memory of the Order and of the faithful. Documentary series produced for educational and devotional purposes and for spiritual and historical formation. All historical iconography is cited for cultural and catechetical purposes. Narration and illustrations created with AI assistance · human research, scriptwriting and editing Production: Fides Viva