As I pointed out in previous entries, as soon as the pilgrim put his feet inside the church of Santa María de Wamba, he recalled the words of the venerable old man who, neglecting for a moment his obligations in the preparation of the holy mass in the making, comment, between nostalgic and proud, that just a few steps separated, as if by magic, several centuries of history.

It was in the cloister, renovated in the eighteenth century, but where miraculously survived, one of the most beautiful Romanesque chapter rooms of all those he had contemplated in his long years on the road, including that of the Monsalud monastery in Alcarria, which he met a few weeks later. and what good feelings it left him, regardless of the templarism that, on his second trip to the Alcarria, Camilo José Cela gave him, letting himself be carried away by the traditions of the place.

Perhaps more versed in the modern aspects of the monastery, especially from the late nineteenth century-roughly, fifty years after the Disentailment of Mendizábal-when the monks of La Salle were established to govern an agricultural training school, the origins, wrapped in the impenetrable veils of the mystery, hardly the man knew what is contained in any book or information pamphlet: that the monastery was built, back in the 12th century, at the request of Doña Sancha, sister of King Alfonso VII; that still retains some notable burials -among them, that of a well-known minister of Franco's time-, and that sacred geometry, applied to the field of architecture, offers a range of absorbing wonders, which leave in the background the names of his anonymous teachers.

Once alone inside the temple, the pilgrim feels infinitely small in front of the height of a vaulted nave, firmly supported by giant, solid columns, imitations of immortal stone that replace the ancient sacred forests of the original inhabitants of Iberia

Because of its beauty and spectacularity, the pilgrim does not take long to fall in front of the spell of the marvelous dome, in the magic of whose numbers, warns that one that seemed to have a special relevance for the builders of the Temple: the eight.

Embedded with careful precision in a square, a perfect circle houses an eight-pointed star that, by its arrangement, conforms, at the same time, a fantastic cross of eight beatitudes, which not only involves metaphysical concepts, but also, there, over the plan and according to the opinion of some authors, contains part of those notions of geometry applied in practice.

Gothic, with its cryptic, flamboyant and incomplete language, according to the opinion of that one-of-a-kind genius that was Antoni Gaudí - recalls the pilgrim, who in spite of everything, does not stop being fascinated in his contemplation -, is also present in one of the lateral chapels, that lodge, like a natural pantheon, relics turned into dust with flavor to ancient nobility.

Something further, protected by a kind of bullet-shaped pod - in the mind of the pilgrim, the comparisons cease to be odious, and he thinks that it is very similar to the shape of the tower that always accompanies Santa Barbara, a dark saint. in which some sources observe an unmistakable reference to that of Magdala-, a fragment of the most revered of the relics is preserved, one that not only gives prestige to the place, but also gives it the name: a holy thorn of the Vera Cruz

The arrival of the faithful and the beginning of the celebration of Holy Mass, return to the present a pilgrim, whose mind began to dive, perhaps, in the dark cenotes of History.

A History, each time is more sure of it, distant, immersed in puddles, swamps and swamps susceptible of interpretation. Long is the Way, think, quietly leaving the place, and endless its wonders and mysteries.

NOTICE: Originally published in my blog RECUERDOS DE UN PEREGRINO. Both the text and the accompanying photographs are my exclusive intellectual property. The original entry, where you can check the authorship of juancar347, can be found at the following address: https://jc347.blogspot.com/2014/10/el-monasterio-de-la-santa-espina.html

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[Martial, latin poet]

Ars vtinam more Animvm qve effingere. Posses pulchrior in ter. Ris nvlla tabella foret.

Arte Ojala pudieras representar. el carácter y el espíritu. No habría sobre la tierra. Imagen más bella

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