indicate the level to which a name has been verified.
Gender Feminine
Usage Spanish (Rare)
Other Forms FormsMaría Antigua, Maria Antigua, María de la Antigua
Meaning & History
From a title of Virgin Mary, which came to be in Seville Cathedral's Virgen de la Antigua chapel. The word antigua "old, ancient" referred to a fresco depicting Virgin Mary, which was sculpted on the wall of an ancient mosque which served as the basis for the new cathedral. The veneration of the aforementioned depiction of Mary (or other similar images) came to be associated with the Virgen de la Antigua title and later spread all over Spain and Latin America.Another theory posits that Pope Sylvester I created the Antigua title in the 4th Century because Mary represented the fulfillment of the prophecies within the Old Testament.