Chapel

The chapel, a smaller worship area near the gathering space (narthex) in our church building, is dedicated to Our Lady of the Pillar. This chapel provides a place for celebrating the Eucharist during week days, as well as sacred space for private prayer and devotion before the Blessed Sacrament.
 
"Our Lady of the Pillar" is one of the many titles accorded to Mary. It recalls her appearance to the Apostle James in Saragossa, Spain around 40 A.D. The Madonna statue in our chapel is reminiscent of the statue in the Cathedral of Saragossa.

Related links:
Madonna statue in chapel

Our Lady of the Pillar
Saragossa, Spain (ca. 40 AD)

After the crucifixion, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, his Apostles began to spread the message he left throughout Israel and shortly thereafter, through the Roman empire. One of these Apostles, James (the Greater), reportedly traveled as far west as Spain to the village of Saragossa in northeast Spain. While James was there, he became disheartened because of the failure of his mission. Tradition holds that while he was deep in prayer Jesus' Blessed Mother appeared to him and gave him a small wooden statue of herself and a column of jasper wood and instructed him to build a church in her honor:

"This place is to be my house, and this image and column shall be the title and altar of the temple that you shall build."

The jasper column and the wooden statue can still be seen on special occasions at a church that houses them. About a year after the apparition James arranged to build a small chapel in Mary's honor, the first Church ever dedicated to the honor of the Virgin Mary. After James returned to Jerusalem, he was executed by Herod Agrippa in about 44 AD, the first apostle to be martyred for his faith.