Today we take a short detour from our Advent Journey. Our detour takes us to the town of Cáceres, a medieval village approximately 150 miles southwest of Madrid, Spain. There have been settlements near Cáceres since prehistoric times, as evidenced by cave paintings near Maltravieso and El Conejar. The town itself was founded by the Romans in 25 BC. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the city was occupied by the Visgoths. The oldest surviving areas of the town (Parte Antiqua) still have their ancient walls. The town is very beautiful, overlooking a valley surrounded by high mountains. A small stream flows through the valley. In English, the stream is called Wolf Creek.
The Islamic Moors subjugated the area after their defeat of the Visgoths during the invasion of the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa in 714 AD. The first Christian attempts to retake the peninsula were undertaken by Charlemagne. His first effort, in 778, was repulsed by the Muslims, but he was eventually able to capture Barcelona in 801. Christian attempts to drive the Muslims out of Iberian Peninsula continued unabated until the 15th Century. The areas around Cáceres returned to Christian control in 1229. During the Moorish period, most towns, mountains, and streams acquired new Moorish names, and the small stream beneath the town became known as Wade (steam in Arabic) Lupe (Wolf in Spanish). This name eventually morphed into Guadalupe as the area became more “Spanish”.
The story goes that in the early 1300’s a shepherd from Cáceres, named Gil Cordero, discovered a statue of the Blessed Virgin that was buried along the banks of the Guadalupe. The statue apparently had been hidden from the Moorish invaders by the local inhabitants. A chapel dedicated to Santa Maria de Guadalupe was built on the site in 1337. Alfonso XI, King of Castile, visited the chapel several times and invoked Santa Maria de Guadalupe before the Battle of Rio Salado (October 20, 1340). The Moors were decisively defeated during this battle. After the Castilian victory, King Alfonso XI declared the chapel as a royal sanctuary and undertook an extensive rebuilding program. This chapel rapidly grew into the Monastery of Santa Maria de Guadalupe.
King Henry IV of Castile (1425-1474) was entombed in the Monastery, as was his mother, Joanna, Queen of Portugal. King Ferdinand II of Aragon (the same King Ferdinand II that married Queen Isabela of Castile that sent Christopher Columbus on his way to discover the New World) issued the Sentencia Arbiral de Guadalupe at the monastery on April 21, 1486, a rule-of-law that established a feudal system that tied peasants to the lands on which they lived. Pope Pius XII declared the monastery a Minor Papal Basilica in 1955. UNESCO declared it a World Heritage Site in 1993.
Stay tuned. There is more to the story!
May God Bless You and Grant You His Peace!