Catalonia & the Balearic Islands: an historical and desciptive accountCalvert, Albert Frederick
History
Catalonia & the Balearic Islands: an historical and desciptive account
Calvert, Albert Frederick
Balearic Islands (Spain) -- Description and travel; Catalonia (Spain) -- Description and travel
We may trace the footprints of St. Ignatius to Manresa, a name dear to
the Jesuit in all lands, and borne by the Manchester of Cataluña. It is
a lively, picturesque town, built on an amphitheatre of hills on the
left bank of the Cardoner. High over the factories towers the Collegiate
Church begun in 1328 and finished, probably, a hundred years later. It
is one of those wide-naved churches characteristic of the principality,
its span of nave is, in fact, greater than that of any cathedral with
aisles, except Palma. An interesting peculiarity is the flying
buttresses built partly in and partly outside the church. Over the first
roof rises an impressive bell tower. The interior is disappointing. The
side chapels are Gothic. There is some good glass in the clerestory
windows, and the organ displays one of those Saracens’ heads we so often
find in Catalan churches. In the archives are some interesting pictures
by local artists, reminding one of Byzantine work, and there also is
preserved that altar frontal which excited the fervent admiration of
Street. In a vault beneath the presbytery are treasured the relics of
St. Agnes and St. Maurice, translated here from Vienne on the Rhône in
the time of Berenguer III.
The fine old church of the Carmen commemorated a miracle reputed to have
occurred in the year 1345. The town having been laid under an interdict
by the Bishop of Vich, the innocence of the townsfolk was demonstrated
by a light which penetrated through the windows of the church, filling
it with radiance. But these mediæval traditions are obscured by the
glory of St. Ignatius, whose name the citizens delight to honour. In the
church of Santo Domingo was formerly shown a black cross which the saint
used to bear on his shoulder while he prostrated himself before the
altars in turn. The church of the Cueva--an odius _baroque_ work--is
raised over the cave wherein during ten months he underwent the dolorous
process of his spiritual regeneration. In the Jesuit College you may see
one of his fingers, his books, and the bricks that served him as a
pillow. There is not a spot nor a house in Manresa that the citizens
will not fail to point out as in some way, however slight, associated
with the immortal founder of the Society of Jesus.
Not far from Manresa is the flourishing town of Tarrassa, which occupies
the site of the old episcopal city of Egara. The primitive _arx_ or
citadel gave place in Christian times to a cathedral which was destroyed
by Al Mansûr, and the site is now occupied by the three interesting
Romanesque churches of San Miguel, Santa Maria, and San Pedro.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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