Monastery of Montserrat

Montserrat is said to have  been a destination for pilgrims since before Christian times. No doubt the striking rock formations of the mountain attracted them. The ridge seems to form a kind of saw (hence the name), with large boulders jutting up as teeth. ) There have been monks here since the 7^th or 8^th Century. First, they lived as hermits, and then became a coenobitic community, which flourishes to this day, as a Benedictine Abbey.

In the 12^th Century, the celebrated Black Virgin arrived. The statue is now enshrined high above the choir. Millions of pilgrims visit each year. The Bl. Pope John Paul II visited and elevated the Abbey church to basilica status. The large monastery includes a really fine – and affordable – hotel for pilgrims: the Hotel Abat Cisneros, where Catalan food joins Catalan friendliness for perfect hospitality, at a very affordable price.

Not all visitors have been worthy of it, however. Napoleon destroyed the monasatery, and Franco, the late tyrant, also suppressed it after the civil war, in his attempt to erase Catalan culture. (The Black Virgin has been the [patroness of Catalonia for 125 years.) Now Catalan is the languiage of operation: the masses and offices are all said in the local language. [View short clip below.]

We were lucky to arrive on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception (Devember 8), which meant that there is special festivity all day. Beginning with Solemn Lauds, officiated by the Abbot in cloth-of-gold cope, assisted by two deacons. The Solemn Mass was concelebrated by the Abbot and about thirty priests. The large Basilica is about the size of the in Minneapolis, and it was filled to standing room only. I found a seat in one of the numerous side chapels. The choir included the boys from the choir school, who also sang the Marian devotions after mass, ending with Salve Regina, which everyone sang in Catalan.

There seem to be lots of monks, though not enough to fill the rooms in the vast monastery building. They are working on renovating a large Hostel, for official guests. There are lots of other buildings, a shopping center, and several restaurants at the foot of the monastery. All this is reached by a switchback road or by train or tour bus.

The basilica itself is baroque inside, with a full-strory for a triforium, which houses chapels above the ones off the aisles. When it was still the custom for every monk to celebrate everyday, the literature claims that five hundred masses were said every day in the chapels fo the monastery. Now, as at St. John’s in Minnesota, all these Masses are replaced by the single conventual Mass late in the morning. There isn’t much glass, but the pillars and ribs are elaborately painted, and all the capitals gilded – as are many of the retablos behind the altars.

After the image of the Virgin itself, high above the bema of the basilica, and accessible to pilgrims via a long stairway that I did not attempt, I will remember most the numerous hanging lamps. These are enormous fixtures, suspended from iron hangers jutting out from the walls. Each one is at least as big as the main sanctuary lamp at St. Paul’s-on-the-Hill, but much more fancifully decorated. And they ALL are lit! That’s because they have been electrified so carefully that one can’t see the wires at all. The colored lights are small and flickering, so they might be oil. I like it. The candles on the main altar and in the more important chapels are real. The six in the Lady Chapel were all lit.

Benedictine splendor.


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After this pious beginning, out visit to Catalonia continued in the afternoon by finding our hotel near the center of Barcelona. The  Vilamari is an elegant, modern,k boutique hotel, at a superb, significantly-discounted price, thanks to Booking.com.


today, we visited Gaudi's La Sagrada Faamilia, but decided to go in tomorrow, when we have bought our tickets online, and this won't have to stand in the hour-long line. Instead,k we drove up the coast to look at the seaside suburbs and the Mediterranean. Not very sunny, but then it IS winter. the temperature Is about like San Francisco.

We did drive around downtown a bit, too. La Rambla (above) is the famous main street, which is really jumping. Allo the streets are pretty nice, though: lined with sycamores or acacias in front of delicate old eight-floor apartment buildings - all with iron railings and many with turreted corners. Best of all, whoever laid out the streets (outside the old central core) cut off the corners of the blocks at every intersection, so that it actually forms a square. Not only is it attractive, but it makes driving allot easier.