Royal Collegiate Church of Santa María, Roncesvalles
The church below the Pyrenean pass, where pilgrims on the Camino Francés have been received, fed and blessed since the twelfth century.
Location
Roncesvalles, Spain
43.0092° N · 1.3195° W
Type
Collegiate church and parish
Early thirteenth-century Gothic in the manner of the Île-de-France, damaged by fire and rebuilt more than once; the presbytery keeps the clearest Gothic forms
Dedication
Santa María de Roncesvalles, Our Lady of Roncesvalles
The pilgrim Mass and blessing before the Virgin of Roncesvalles
Time Needed
1 hour to half a day
01 · Why Go
The first night in Spain
The road comes down from the pass through beech woods, and the gray roofs of Roncesvalles appear all at once in a clearing. For most pilgrims on the Camino Francés this is the first night after the Pyrenees, at the end of the hardest day of the road. Come to the evening Mass. At its end the clergy bless the pilgrims who have arrived, and Our Lady of Roncesvalles looks down from the altar as she has over walkers for six centuries.
A hospital for the pass
In 1127 Bishop Sancho de Larrosa of Pamplona founded a hospital here for the pilgrims crossing the mountains, and within a few years a community of canons living under the Rule of Saint Augustine took charge of it. A thirteenth-century poem praises its welcome: a door open to all, baths, mended shoes, beds and care for the sick. The present church was raised in the early thirteenth century under King Sancho VII of Navarre, who chose it for his burial. The pass is also remembered for the defeat of Charlemagne's rearguard in 778 and the Song of Roland, but the church exists for the road.
Three naves run east under high vaults to a five-sided apse lit by modern glass. Above the altar, beneath a canopy, sits the Virgin of Roncesvalles. Side chapels keep the relics, and the chapel of San Agustín holds the King's tomb.
Read the Place
A house of welcome at the foot of the pass.
Hospitality came first here, and the church grew around it.
01Arrive for the blessingThe day ends at the evening Mass, not at the bunk.
02Pray before Our LadyThe valleys have brought their intentions to her for centuries.
02 · Spiritual Significance
Spiritual Significance
The presbyteryOur Lady of RoncesvallesThe fourteenth-century image of Our Lady above the high altar, where the pilgrim blessing is given.
This is a Marian church first. The valleys of the Navarrese Pyrenees still walk here in procession each spring, praying the Rosary and the litanies as they come in sight of the church, and the image was crowned canonically in 1960. Pilgrims ask her intercession for the road ahead.
The church also keeps the Passion before the walker. In the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament two thorns are venerated as relics of Christ's Crown, and in the Chapel of the Holy Christ and the Holy Relics, refashioned for the ninth centenary of the foundation, saints of Navarre and of the whole Church, Saint James among them, gather around the crucified Christ. The Camino begins here in earnest, and it begins with prayer.
The hospital was founded in 1127, more than eighty years before the present church was built.
The image of Our Lady was made in Toulouse, on the far side of the mountains the pilgrims have just crossed.
The modern glass of the apse fills the windows of a thirteenth-century chevet.
The confraternity of Santa María founded with the hospital was revived in 1985 and is now the largest in Navarre.
03 · Do Not Miss
Do Not Miss
5 Stops
01
The pilgrim blessing
At the end of the evening Mass, before the high altar.
02
Our Lady of Roncesvalles
The silver-plated fourteenth-century image beneath the canopy above the altar.
03
The Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament
The reliquary cross of the Holy Thorns is set into its Baroque altarpiece.
04
The chapel of San Agustín
The tomb of Sancho VII, the King who built the church, with the chains remembered from Las Navas de Tolosa.
05
The church of Santiago
A small Gothic church beside the Silo of Charlemagne, the one building here dedicated to the Apostle.
See all 5 · 2 more
The chapel of San AgustínThe tomb of Sancho VII, the King who built the church, with the chains remembered from Las Navas de Tolosa.
The church of SantiagoA small Gothic church beside the Silo of Charlemagne, the one building here dedicated to the Apostle.
04 · Visit Plans
Visit Plans
1 plan · add to a journey
About 90 minutes Pilgrims arriving on the Camino Francés
Mass, blessing and the King's chapel
Pray before Our Lady, stay for the evening Mass and the blessing, then visit the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament and the chapel of San Agustín.
Prayer before Our Lady of Roncesvalles
The evening Mass and the pilgrim blessing
The Holy Thorns and the chapel of San Agustín
05 · How to Visit
How to Visit
A practical sequence
Arriving on foot
From Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port two roads climb to Roncesvalles. From November 1 to March 31 the Government of Navarre closes the high route over the Lepoeder pass; walk by Valcarlos and the Ibañeta pass instead.
Before Mass
Arrive with time to settle. Confession is offered half an hour before Mass. Mass times change with the season, so check the Collegiate's page or the notice at the church.
The blessing
Stay to the end of the evening Mass. The blessing of pilgrims follows the last Mass of the day, all year round.
Before leaving
Visit the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the chapel of San Agustín and the small Gothic church of Santiago beside the Silo of Charlemagne.
Onward
The Camino descends toward Pamplona. Burgos Cathedral, the next great church of the road, lies nearly 300 km farther west.
See all 5 · 2 more
Before leavingVisit the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the chapel of San Agustín and the small Gothic church of Santiago beside the Silo of Charlemagne.
OnwardThe Camino descends toward Pamplona. Burgos Cathedral, the next great church of the road, lies nearly 300 km farther west.
06 · Planning your visit
Arrive in time for Mass.
Reviewed October 8, 2026·Official sources
The Collegiate publishes its Mass times, which change between summer and winter. The pilgrim blessing follows the last Mass of the day.
Address
N-135, Km 47, 31650 Roncesvalles, Navarre, Spain
Time needed
About an hour, longer with Mass
Primary devotion
Our Lady of Roncesvalles
For pilgrims
Pilgrim blessing
Given at the end of the last Mass of the day, all year round, whenever walkers ask for it.
Confession
Offered half an hour before Mass. Questions can be brought to the church at any time.
Crossing the Pyrenees in winter
From November 1 to March 31 the Lepoeder route is closed. Walk from Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port by Valcarlos and Ibañeta instead.
07 · Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
Relics, Tombs, Sacred Objects
Marian image
Our Lady of Roncesvalles
Yes. She presides over the high altar, and the pilgrim blessing is given before her
Documented
A Gothic wooden image sheathed in silver, made in Toulouse in the middle of the fourteenth century; canonically crowned in 1960
Royal Collegiate Church of Roncesvalles
Relics of the Passion
The Holy Thorns
In the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, set into its Baroque altarpiece
Traditional
Kept in a sixteenth-century cross of gilded silver. The tradition holds that King Theobald II of Navarre, son-in-law of Saint Louis, gave two thorns from the Crown that Louis received in 1238
Royal Collegiate Church of Roncesvalles
Source noteTraditional attributions are presented as tradition, with documentation named where it exists.
08 · Map
Map
Roncesvalles, Spain
Editorial sources
The foundation of 1127, the canons, the building of the church under Sancho VII, the image of Our Lady and her coronation in 1960, the Holy Thorns, the relics chapel of the ninth centenary, and the Mass, blessing and confession times follow the Royal Collegiate Church's own pages. The gift of the thorns by Theobald II is given as the Collegiate gives it, as tradition. The winter closure of the Lepoeder route follows the Government of Navarre. Mass times change with the season; check the Collegiate's page.
