Draft:Simon Vela

Simon Vela (Paris, 1384 - El Cabaco, March 11, 1438) was a French pilgrim, whose original name was Simon Roland, who in 1434 found a Romanesque image of the Virgin Mary at the top of the Peña de Francia (El Cabaco, Salamanca).

According to legend, Simon was a person of great religious devotion who, in a dream, received the message that he should find an image of the Virgin Mary in Peña de Francia.

After searching for this image for several years in France, he walked the Camino de Santiago and on his return from Santiago de Compostela, he detoured through the province of Salamanca. Upon hearing the name of Peña de Francia in the city of Salamanca, he followed some carters to San Martín del Castañar, where he received specific instructions to get to the mountain. On the third day of searching for the image he had a Marian apparition, and on May 14, 1434, he found it buried at the top of the rock, just as Juana Hernandez, known as the holy girl of Sequeros, had announced ten years earlier. From then on, he changed his name to Simon Vela and dedicated his efforts to promoting the cult of said image in the Peña de Francia. He died on March 11, 1438 and was buried next to the altar of the Virgin Mary, although his remains were later transferred to Sequeros, preserved together with those of the holy girl in the church of Our Lady of Robledo).