2020 Marks 100-Year Milestone for the Spanish Air Force

  • Published
  • By Jonathan Tharp
  • Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation Directorate
WRIGHT-PATTERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Ohio (AFLCMC) -- Nurturing multicultural environment in the Air Force, the Air Force Security Assistance and Cooperation (AFSAC) Directorate likes to highlight significant events for air forces around the world. As we conclude 2020, it is not just the year of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It marks 100 years since King Alfonso XIII declared Our Lady of Loreto as Patron Saint of the Spanish Air Force.

Previously, on March 24, 1920, Pope Benedict XV declared and proclaimed Our Lady of Loreto as Patron Saint of all aeronauts. Other countries of Hispanic tradition, such as Argentina, Colombia, Chile, Venezuela or Peru also named her as Patron Saint of their Air Forces and aviators.

The Pope's decision was made because Our Lady of Loreto is linked to the miraculous transfer of the house where Jesus Christ´s Mother was born. Legend has it, in 1291 when the Crusaders were forced to leave the Holy Land, the House of the Virgin Mary, where the Son of God was incarnated in Nazareth (Palestine) was transported by angelic mystery from Nazareth to Tersaco, in Dalmatia, and from there, on the night of December 10, 1294 to the laurel mount, from where the name comes (Loreto from Latin… place of laurels) in the territory of Recanati (Italy). Every December 10, the Day of Virgen de Loreto is celebrated. The airmen of the Spanish Air Force mark this day with military and aerial parades.