The miracle of the lava at Iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari

The iglesia de San Nicolás de Bari is situated in Las Manchas in the municipality of El Paso on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. It is nestled in the upper part of what is today a road and was formerly a path. The church is relatively famous among the inhabitants of La Palma because the lava from the San Juan volcano branched off in 1949 before reaching this small temple, which was considered a miraculous intercession of the Virgin of Fatima.

Devotion to this Saint dates back to the first half of the 18th century. In 1676, Nicolás Massieu Van Dalle - a Capitán de Infantería, Regidor perpetuo, and Alguacil Mayor of the Holy Office of the Inquisition - expressed his desire to build a hermitage in honor of the saint on the land he owned in Las Manchas. He stipulated in his will that the construction be of good quality and made with care in both its structure and its ornaments.

Massieu Van Dalle had a Christ in his house at Llano de Argual, which he ordered placed high on the altarpiece, with statues of San Nicolás, San José, and Nuestra Señora de Bonanza placed below it. These carvings are almost certainly attributed to the Sevillian artisan Hita del Castillo. Today, the church houses a figure of the Virgen Milagrosa - the first of this devotion to arrive on La Palma - and a new figure of San Nicolás.

The church was elevated to a parish by the Bishop Fray Albino González y Menéndez Rejgada by a decree in 1929. José Pons y Comallonga served as the first parish priest. The patronage of the foundation remains with the descendants of Nicolás Massieu Van Dalle and his wife Ángela María de Monteverde y Ponte, currently represented by the Casa Massieu-Tello de Eslava.

Sources: Wikipedia, OpenStreetMap, Wikidata, Wikimedia Commons