| |
 |
 |
|
| Comment on this report, or find other reports. |
|
| Our Mystery Worshippers are volunteers who warm church pews for us around the world. If you'd like to become a Mystery Worshipper, start here. |
|
| Find out how to reproduce this report in your church magazine or website. |
|
|
An encounter
with the True Cross
|
|
 |
|
| As Augustine
set out on the penultimate leg of his pilgrimage, an event occurred
that would have left Salvador Dali twirling his moustaches.
|
|
THE DAY
AFTER MY VISIT to San Vicente,
Potes, Cantabria, I set out bright and early but took a wrong
turn. This led me two kilometres off the route and up 400 metres
to the plain stone Franciscan
monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana.
This place has two claims to fame. The more obscure of the two
is that it was here that Abbot Beatus de Liebana wrote his apocalyptic
commentaries on the Book of St John. An original copy is kept
at the monastery, but well out of public view – still,
they had nice reproductions in the gift shop.
The other item of interest is kept in the side chapel. It is
none other than the largest fragment of the True Cross in existence.
It is a hefty chunk, about a foot long, of cypress embedded
in an ornate silver crucifix.
After my 2-kilometre climb, I found the monastery and took a
few minutes of rest in the cloister at the top of this sub-alpine
hill. I sat among the roses of the garden there, thinking again
of an Australian named Rose who had taken her own life about
ten years ago.
At length I went out into the courtyard to find
myself in the middle of several busloads of exquisitely dressed
French pilgrims. One of the friars saw me, took me by the hand,
and led my sweaty stinky backpack-laden self through the crowds.
Bus pilgrims’ noses wrinkled and lips pursed at the sight
and smell of this uncouth person! After a minute of conversation
with me, the head Franciscan announced to all that, while he
usually addressed pilgrims in Spanish, they had a Canadian pilgrim
among them and so, for this one time, he would speak in French.
After his address on the provenance of this piece of the True
Cross, he took me by the hand and led me to the reliquary. While
not an aficionado of relic veneration (Anglicans normally venerate
relics by placing brass plaques nearby), I knew what must be
done. And so I kissed the piece of red cypress in its ornate
silver holder, worn smooth from at least 16 centuries of attention.
As I stepped back through the crowd, about half of them still
continued their pursed lips and mutterings, but the other half
came up to greet me, shake my hand, clap me on the shoulder,
exclaim "Bravo, bravo, mon vieux!" and so
forth.
Still trying to understand this Dali-esque sequence of events,
I walked down the hill to the 12th century Ermita de San Miguel
and looked at the valley below to Potes, and ahead to my next
stop – rendered even more surreal when a very smelly wild
boar rushed along and crossed my path at the bottom of the trail. |
|
| |
|
|
|
 |
|
| We rely on voluntary donations to stay online. If you're a regular visitor to Ship of Fools, please consider supporting us. |
|
 |
|
| The Mystery Pilgrim |
|
| One of our most seasoned reporters makes the Camino pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela in Spain. Read here. |
|
 |
|
| London churches |
|
| Read reports from 70 London churches, visited by a small army of Mystery Worshippers on one single Sunday. Read here. |
| |
|
|
|
|
