"}" id="mwBg">
The Monastery of Santo Toribio de Liébana is a Roman Catholic monastery located in the district of Liébana, near Potes in Cantabria, Spain. Located in the Cantabrian Mountains in northern Spain, the monastery is one of the five places in Roman Catholicism, together with Rome, Jerusalem, Santiago de Compostela and Caravaca de la Cruz, that has the privilege of issuing perpetual indulgences.
The monastery was founded prior to the 6th century. The monastery holds and venerates part of the Lignum Crucis discovered in Jerusalem by Saint Helena of Constantinople, which is claimed to be the largest piece held. Brought from the Church of the Holy Sepulchre by Saint Turibius of Astorga, the left arm of the True Cross is kept on a gilded silver reliquary. The monastery was initially dedicated to St. Martin of Tours but its name was changed in the 12th century.
On April 16, 1961, the Franciscan friars, Custodians of the Holy Places, were entrusted with the relic's safekeeping and with the promotion of the devotion to the Holy Cross.
Its origins are obscure, but it was during the reign of Alfonso I of Asturias, who was repopulating the area around Liébana during the early part of the reconquest of Spain in the mid-8th century. The first reference to the monastery of Turieno with the protection of Saint Turibius was made in 1125. Its foundation is attributed to a 6th-century Bishop of Palencia called Turibius of Liébana, who retired with some companions to Liébana to live according to the Benedictine rule. When it was founded, the monastery was first dedicated to Saint Martin of Tours, which name over time was changed to Saint Turibius of Liébana. Probably during the 8th century, the body of another 6th-century bishop, Saint Turibius of Astorga was moved to the monastery, along with relics which he was believed to have brought from the Holy Land for safekeeping.
The most important of these is that of the Wood of the True Cross (Lignum Crucis), believed by some Roman Catholics to be the biggest surviving piece of the cross upon which Jesus Christ was crucified. Because of this, the monastery was an important pilgrimage centre, and is one of the most important holy sites of Roman Catholicism in Europe, alongside other notable places such as Rome, Santiago de Compostela, Caravaca de la Cruz and Assisi. The monastery was also where the 8th century monk Beatus of Liébana wrote and illustrated his works, such as his Commentary on the Apocalypse.
The monastery was originally a royal possession, but it was given by Alfonso VIII of Castile to Count Gómez y Countess Emilia, who then passed it on to the monastery of Oña (Burgos), along with other properties in Liébana and neighbouring provinces. The monastic community ceased to exist after the forced sale of religious land in Spain in 1837, but was replaced in 1961 by a small community of Friars Minor.
The most important building is the gothic church, whose construction began in 1256, though it has been remodelled several times since. It is built on the site of a pre-Romanesque and a Romanesque building (perhaps Asturian or Mozarabic in style). It has the clarity of line and space, and the surrounding decoration that characterises the architecture of San Bernardo. The church is rectangular in plan with three aisles; a tower at the foot of the central, widest aisle, and three polygonal apses. Its facade is similar to that of the Abbey of the Holy Bodies, the cathedral of Santander. Its doors in the southern wall are Romanesque in style and possibly predate the building inside. The principal door, the Puerta del Perdón (Door of Forgiveness) is only ever opened during each Jubilee Year when Saint Turibius' day coincides with a Sunday. The cloister was completed in the 17th century.
According to tradition, this relic is part of the True Cross that the Empress Saint Helena unearthed in Jerusalem. From there, Saint Turibius of Astorga, Custodian of the Holy Places, took it to the cathedral of his hometown in Astorga, Spain, where he was soon made bishop. When the Moors invaded Spain in 711, the relic was hidden along with others in a fold on Mount Viorna in the Liebana Valley, next to St. Turibius' relics. Both relics were eventually transferred to the monastery that immediately became an important place to be visited by pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Compostela. Documents dated 1507 state that, "since time immemorial" the Jubilee is celebrated every time the saint's feast-day falls on a Sunday.
Fr. Sandoval, chronicler of the Benedictine order, wrote that this relic is the "left arm of the Holy Cross. It was sawed and assembled in the form of a cross, leaving intact the hole where was nailed down the hand of Christ". The vertical bar is 635 millimetres (25.0 in) long and the crossbar is 393 millimetres (15.5 in) long. The cross has a thickness of 38 millimetres (1.5 in). [1] It is the largest preserved relic of the True Cross.
The wood was embedded in a Gothic silver gilt cross, manufactured by a workshop of Valladolid in 1679. It lies in a housing of golden wood in a baroque, domed, early 18th-century chapel in the north wall of the church, looked over by an effigy of the chapel's founder, Francisco de Cosío y Otero (1640–1715), Grand Inquisitor of Madrid and later Archbishop of Bogotá in Colombia, who was born locally.
In 1817 Ignacio Ramón de Roda, Bishop of León, went to the monastery and asked permission of the prior of the Benedictine monks to remove a portion of the Cross. Two pieces of wood arranged in the form of a cross in a reliquary were given to Don Joachim and Don Felix Columbus, descendants of Christopher Columbus, for the chapel of their family castle in Asturias. In 1909 Terry and Mathilde Boal inherited and imported to their American estate the chapel of the Columbus family, including an admiral's desk that belonged to the famous explorer himself. They brought from Spain to Boalsburg, Pennsylvania, the entrance door and the whole interior of the Columbus Chapel with the relic of the True Cross. [2]
In 1958 a scientific investigation carried out by Madrid's Forestry Research Institute concluded that the relic is of a Mediterranean Cypress wood (Cupressus sempervirens), very common in Israel, and could be older than 2,000 years. [1]
Astorga is a municipality and city of Spain located in the central area of the province of León, in the autonomous community of Castilla y León, 43 kilometres (27 mi) southwest of the provincial capital. It is located in the transit between the Páramo Leonés and the mountains of León and acts as the backbone of the comarcas of Maragatería, La Cepeda and the Ribera del Órbigo. The city is the head of one of the most extensive and oldest dioceses of Spain, whose jurisdiction covers half of the province of León and part of Ourense and Zamora. It is also head of the judicial party number 5 of the province of León.
In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains or personal effects of a saint or other person preserved for the purpose of veneration as a tangible memorial. Relics are an important aspect of some forms of Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, shamanism, and many other religions. Relic derives from the Latin reliquiae, meaning "remains", and a form of the Latin verb relinquere, to "leave behind, or abandon". A reliquary is a shrine that houses one or more religious relics.
The True Cross is said to be the real cross that Jesus of Nazareth was crucified on, according to Christian tradition.
A number of alleged relics associated with Jesus have been displayed throughout the history of Christianity. While some individuals believe in the authenticity of Jesus relics, others doubt their validity. For instance, the sixteenth-century philosopher Erasmus wrote about the proliferation of relics, and the number of buildings that could be constructed from wooden relics claimed to be from the crucifixion cross of Jesus. Similarly, at least thirty Holy Nails were venerated as relics across Europe in the early 20th century. Part of the relics are included in the so-called Arma Christi, or the Instruments of the Passion.
The Holy Chalice, also known as the Holy Grail, is in Christian tradition the vessel that Jesus used at the Last Supper to share his blood. The Synoptic Gospels refer to Jesus sharing a cup of wine with the Apostles, saying it was the covenant in his blood. The use of wine and chalice in the Eucharist in Christian churches is based on the Last Supper event. In the late 12th century, the author Robert de Boron associated the pre-existing story of the Holy Grail, a magical item from Arthurian literature, with the Holy Chalice. This association was continued in many subsequent Arthurian works, including the Lancelot-Grail (Vulgate) cycle, the Post-Vulgate Cycle, and Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur. A cup kept in the Spanish Cathedral of Valencia has been identified since medieval times as the purported Holy Chalice used at the Last Supper.
Caravaca de la Cruz, often shortened to Caravaca, is a town and municipality of southeastern Spain in the region of Murcia, near the left bank of the River Argos, a tributary of the Segura. It is the capital of the northwest Region of Murcia. It has a population of 26,449 as of 2010. In 1900, it had 15,846 inhabitants.
The Basilica of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem or Basilica di Santa Croce in Gerusalemme is a Catholic Minor basilica and titular church in rione Esquilino, Rome, Italy. It is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome.
The Titulus Crucis is a venerated piece of wood kept in the Church of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome which is claimed to be the titulus of the True Cross on which Jesus Christ was crucified. It is venerated by some Catholics as a relic associated with Jesus. Its authenticity is disputed, with some scholars confirming a plausible authenticity, while others ignore or consider it to be a medieval forgery. Radiocarbon dating tests on the artifact have shown that it dates between 980 and 1146 AD.
Toribio or Toribío may refer to:
Saint Turibius of Astorga was an archdeacon of Tui and an early Bishop of Astorga. Turibius was a zealous maintainer of ecclesiastical discipline, and defender of the Nicene Christianity against the Galician heresy of Priscillianism, for which he received a supportive letter from Leo the Great, which still survives.
The Seminary of Saint Turibius, also known as the Seminary of Lima or, is a priestly seminary in charge of training seminarians to be future priests of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Lima. It is based in Lima, Peru, and is the second oldest seminary in the Americas after that of Bogotá, having been founded on December 7, 1591, by then Archbishop Turibius of Mongrovejo.
Turibius of Liébana, also known as Turbius the Monk, was an early Benedictine monk. He was born probably in Turieno and spent most of his life in the region of Liébana. He received a letter full of praise from Bishop Montanus of Toledo in 527. In his preaching, he condemned as heresy the Priscillianism still rampant in Spain. Around the middle of the century, he and five companions took up the Benedictine habit and founded the monastery of Liébana, either the second or third oldest Benedictine establishment in Spain, dedicating it to Martin of Tours.
The Arca Santa is an oak reliquary covered with silver-gilt decorated in the Romanesque style. It is kept in the Cámara Santa of the Cathedral of San Salvador in Oviedo. In 1934 the Cámara Santa suffered an explosion that severely damaged the Arca, which was carefully restored by Manuel Gómez-Moreno.
Monasteries in Spain have a rich artistic and cultural tradition, and serve as testament to Spain's religious history and political-military history, from the Visigothic Period to the Middle Ages. The monasteries played an important role in the recruitment conducted by Christian aristocracy during and after the progress of the Reconquista, with the consequent decline in the Muslim south of the peninsula.
Potes is a municipality in the autonomous community of Cantabria in Spain. It is the capital of the Comarca of Liébana and is located in the centre of it. It is bordered to the north by Cillorigo de Liébana, to the west by Camaleño, to the south by Vega de Liébana and to the east by Cabezón de Liébana.
Spanish Romanesque designates the Romanesque art developed in the Hispanic-Christian kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula in the 11th and 12th centuries. Its stylistic features are essentially common to the European Romanesque although it developed particular characteristics in the different regions of the peninsula. There is no Romanesque art in the southern half of the peninsula because it remained under Muslim rule (Al-Andalus). The examples of Romanesque buildings in the central area of the peninsula are sparse and of the latest period, with virtually no presence south of the Ebro and the Tagus. Most Romanesque buildings can be found in the northern third of the peninsula. Romanesque art was introduced into the peninsula from east to west, so scholars have usually defined regional characteristics accordingly: the "eastern kingdoms" comprising the Pyrenean areas, Catalan Romanesque, Aragonese Romanesque and Navarrese Romanesque, and the "western kingdoms" comprising Castilian-Leonese Romanesque, Asturian Romanesque, Galician Romanesque and Portuguese Romanesque.
Mogrovejo is a small village of the municipality of Camaleño in Cantabria, Spain with 44 inhabitants in 2008.
The Camino Real de la Valdavia is a historical route in Spain that joins the Way of St. James as it passes through Carrión de los Condes, with the Piedrasluengas pass through the valley of the Valdavia, and which was known and represented as such on maps until recent times.
The Routes of Santiago de Compostela: Camino Francés and Routes of Northern Spain is a UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Spain. It was designated in 1993, and later expanded and renamed in 2015. The complete site includes a network of five traditional pilgrimage routes of the Way of Saint James as it passes through Northern Spain: the popular French Way, the Primitive Way, the Northern or Coastal Way, the Interior Way and the Liébana Route; as well as 16 of the most "culturally significant" individual structures, including religious and civil buildings.