Virgen de los desamparados

Our Lady of the Abandoned
Image of Our Lady of the Forsaken at the offering of the flowers in Valencia during Fallas, the Valencia Festival of St Joseph. (March 2008).
Location	Valencia
Date	Second Sunday of May
Witness	Saint Amparo, Desamparados
Shrine	Basilica of Our Lady of the Forsaken, Valencia, Spain
Patronage	Valencia
Attributes	A lily in one hand; in the other, the baby Jesus carrying the Cross in his arms; the Geperudeta (hunchback)

Our Lady of the Abandoned ('Virgen de los Desamparados', 'Nuestra Señora de los Desamparados' Valencian: Mare de Déu dels Desamparats, IPA: [ˈmaɾe ðe ˈðew ðeɫz ðezampaˈɾats]) is a Catholic apparition attributed to the Virgin Mary. She is the patroness of Valencia and one of seven patrons of the Autonomous communities of Spain. She appears with a lily in one hand and in the other, she carries the baby Jesus who bears the cross in his arms. Her posture is characterized by a slight forward tilt, and hence, she is known affectionately as the Geperudeta (hunchback) of Valencia. Her image is housed in the 'Basilica de la Virgen de los Desamparados'.

Legend tells, on 24 February 1409, a Friday at the beginning of Lent, a priest called Father Joan Gilabert Jofré, was on his way from the convent on Mercy Square to St. Catherine's (Santa Catalina) church in Valencia to deliver a sermon. On the way, on Silverworks Street, (now Martin Mengod Street) he witnessed the lynching of a mentally ill man and intervened to save the man. In response to this event, he preached on the subject of care of the mentally ill and established a hospice for the mentally ill. A manuscript of Manuel Calvo dated 22 December 1848, reads:

Translated, the passage reads:

Ten people responded by building the hospital they called "El Hospital de Los Locos" and on 1 June 1410, Sancta Maria officially opened the 'Hospital d'Innocents, Follcs i Orats' under the protection of the 'Virgin, dels Innocents', known by the people as 'Holy Nostra Dona Maria dels Innocents'.