It is val­ued by believ­ers for the spe­cial rel­ic of the tem­ple — a wood­en stat­ue of the Blessed Vir­gin of Mer­itx­ell, after whom the cathe­dral was named. She is con­sid­ered the patroness of the coun­try and has appeared to peo­ple in this place sev­er­al times.