[Untersberg56]

The Apostle James the Greater left Jerusalem after the crucifixion to preach the gospels far and wide.

By the year 39 he had reached Caesar-Augustus (nowadays Zaragoza) in Spain and was finding his mission unfruitful. By tradition on 12 October of the year 40, at the river Ebro believing that his mission was destined to fail, he saw the first-ever apparition of the Virgin Mary atop a nearby 6-foot tall standing stone and surrounded by two or more angels.

Giving him a pillar of jasper and statue of Herself with child, She commanded him to build a temple in her honour at that place(**). It is today the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar and the original jasper pillar and statue are still kept there.

The interesting thing about this Apparition is that Mary the Virgin Mother of Jesus was still alive in the year 40 and never went to Spain.

There have been hundreds of authenticated apparitions of the Virgin Mary in the almost 2000 years since Zaragoza. So, was the first apparition an Astral Projection of the living Mary? Or a female Archangel posing as the Virgin Mary?

(**) See details of this Apparition for example by Googling "Zaragoza Spain Apparition, Cathetel".)