In 1585, a miracle attributed to the Immaculate Conception led to the victory of the Spanish Tercios in the battle of Empel, during the 80 Years’ War, in the early hours of December 7 to 8.
The soldiers were chilled by the cold and were predicting an unmitigated defeat, when a soldier found, while digging a trench to take refuge, a panel with an image of the Immaculate Conception. The captains decided to take her in procession to a nearby church.
The next day, a miraculous event occurred that allowed the Spanish troops to advance and win. Since then, the Immaculate Conception was considered the patron saint of the Spanish Infantry, the oldest in the world, which was not made official until 1892.
But first, Philip IV insisted Pope Gregory XV declare the dogma of the Immaculate Conception in the 17th century, without success. King Charles III, in 1761, established the “universal patronage of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception in all the Kingdoms of Spain and the Indies.”