Bones and miracles: a route through the most devout Catalonia

BarcelonaA lock of blond hair from Jaume I, kept in the Palau de la Música Catalana. The dramatic transformation of Plaça Sant Agustí in the Raval district when the statue of Saint Rita is brought out and the faithful leave messages filled with hopeful petitions to the patron saint of impossible causes. Splinters from the cross on which Jesus was tortured and killed, treasured in the church of Anglesola. A drop of blood from John Paul II, preserved in the church of Our Lady of Prat in Argelès. The Virgin Mary's milk held by the Old Guild of Resellers Association 1447 in Plaça del Pi, Barcelona. The bones of Saint Felix in Vilafranca del Penedès. These are just some of the relics, of legendary origin, that journalist Sergi Ramis (Barcelona, ​​1964) has been finding in chapels, museums, altars, and crypts throughout Catalonia. He explains it, with a good dose of humor, in The Path of Bones: A True Journey Through the Catalonia of Relics (Column).

The idea for the book began decades ago. Ramis, a specialist in travel journalism, directed the magazines Altaïr and The world of the PyreneesIn the late 1980s, he traveled to the Indian Himalayas and was invited into a mosque to see hairs from Muhammad's beard. This sparked his curiosity, and in other destinations, he admired many other relics. "I've spent my whole life explaining exotic and distant things, and I really wanted to write a travel book about Catalonia with a different theme, one that would allow me to tell a little-known aspect of the country, and that's how the relics came about," he says.

Ramis is agnostic, but he knows quite a bit about liturgy because he studied at a convent school. "The nuns didn't manage to convert me, but I know how to address priests, nuns, or bishops, how to attend religious services, I understand their language, and that has been very useful, because to write the book I've had to go to many masses, processions, and rosaries." Furthermore, I have... Throughout the journey, many of the contradictions of a society that has changed considerably since Josep Pla or Josep Maria Espinàs chronicled their travels come to light.

The end of Catholicism?

"I thought I knew the country well, but I've discovered many things. As an outside observer, I've been interested to see what will surely be the end of the longest-lasting empire in history." the end of the Catholic religionAt Mass, no one is under 80 years old, and there are only about half a dozen people. It's quite different on the main feast day, when people come for a more cultural or traditional activity,” he explains. There aren't many vocations either. “There are very few priests from the country, and they're all between 80 and 90 years old; the rest are from the Southern Hemisphere,” he says. Ramis knocked on many doors and, in some cases, found the parish priests somewhat “irritable”: “They have to be in multiple places, because they have to travel to seven or eight towns, celebrating Mass and attending to parishioners. They're overworked.”

During his journey, Ramis has encountered religious relics and others that were not...like a bone from Calderón de la Barca or the heart of President Macià. There are relics that are considered relics through contact, such as the cotton that surrounds the bust and reliquary of Saint Patllari in Camprodon. The priest places the cotton there, and after a year in contact with the remains, it acquires protective properties. When the Mass is celebrated on June 21st, it is distributed in tiny fragments. Ramis has also encountered some contradictions. The Martisantes, according to Christian tradition, are a mother and her two sons martyred by Herod, whose relics are kept in the Church of Saint Christopher in Peramea (Pallars Sobirà). "How can they be Christian martyrs if Christ hadn't even been born when Herod died? In the book, there are other saints who haven't even been recognized by the Church, but because there is so much popular devotion, it was eventually accepted that they could be venerated," the author states.

A grudge that's lasted over 600 years

Relics attract worshippers. That's why during the Middle Ages there was a lot of trafficking in bones, and struggles between towns to accumulate more. At the end of the 14th century, when Manresa was about to finish its Gothic cathedral, they realized they lacked relics. "They looked nearby, in Sant Fruitós de Bages, which had the relics of Saint Maurice, Saint Fructuosus, and Saint Agnes, and they took them. They're still angry about it," says Ramis. In Sant Fruitós there's a folk song that makes it clear: "People of Manresa, thieves, scoundrels, and rogues, who have stolen our Holy Bodies, Saint Agnes, Saint Fructuosus, glorious Saint Maurice."

Has Ramis understood why human remains are still venerated? "There's a certain belief in magic. They're rituals that comfort us. Comfort is what people seek with relics. It's a Catholic rite, but one that connects with earlier beliefs. I have my own rituals. When I go to work each morning in my studio, I put on some music, I put on some music, I put on some music, I put on some incense music, because doing so makes me feel good," he explains.

The map of relics

1. Peramea: Martisantes, the remains of a mother and her children allegedly murdered by Herod
2. Lleida: the small chest that contained a sandal (now missing) of the Virgin
3. Inglesola: the splinters of the cross where Jesus was tortured
4. Verdú: the rib of Saint Peter Claver and the skeletal remains of Saint Favian
5. Tárrega: two of the thorns that tortured Jesus
6. Cervera: a splinter from the Cross where Jesus was tortured
7. Ivorra: Part of the tablecloth was stained with blood; supposedly, they are proof of the miracle of events that took place more than a thousand years ago, when Father Bernat Oliver doubted whether the host and wine were really the body and blood of Christ.
8. Calaf: the skull bones of Saint Calamanda
9. Cardona: bones of Saint Celdonius and Saint Ermenter
10. Solsona: Saint Sebastian's blond hair
11. La Seu d'Urgell: the remains of Saint Ermengol
12. Ripoll: pieces of Saint Eudaldo's skull
13. Camprodon: the skull of Saint Patllari
14. Molló Meadows: the bones of Saint Justa and Saint Rufina
15. Arles: the remains of Saint Abdon and Saint Sennen
16. Sant Miquel de Cuixà: the crypt that had preserved the remains of the stable where Jesus was born
17. Argeleros: the bones of Saints Cosmo and Damian and a drop of blood of Saint John Paul II
18. Girona: the stole of Saint Narcissus
19. Besalú: a splinter from the cross where Jesus was tortured and the remains of Saint Delgado, Saint Feliciano, Saint Ferriol and Saint Vincent
20. Olot: the drawers full of glass eyes in the Museum of Saints
21. Saint Quirce of Besora: a bone of Saint Quirce
22. Manlleu: Various relics, from saints' bones to a small piece of blood-stained handkerchief, are on display at the Relics Interpretation Centre, which is a private residence.
23. Vic: bone remains of Saint Sebastian and Saint Margaret.
24. Sant Feliu Sasserra: skeletal remains of Saint Peter Almató
25. Centillas: a small piece of bone from one of Saint Coloma's arms and bones from Saint Lobo
26. Navarculos: half a Valentine's bone
27. Manresa: the skeletal remains of Saint Maurice, Saint Fructuosus, Saint Agnes and Saint Magdalene
28. Mataró: the tibias and skull of Saint Semproniana and Saint Juliana
29. Vilassar de Dalt: skeletal remains of sixty-two martyrs who arrived in 1623 from Sardinia
30. Barcelona: The milk of the Virgin, a lock of hair from James I, a foot bone from Calderón de la Barca, the heart of Francisco Macià, the bones of Saint Raymond of Peñafort, the remains of Saint Eulalia, the bones of Saint Lucy, and a piece of bone from Saint Francis de Salas
31. Vilafranca del Penedès: the bones of Saint Felix
32. The Guard of Els Prats: the bones of Saint Peter Ermengol
33. Valleys: a jawbone of Saint Ursula
34. Aleixar: fibers from Jesus' tunic
35. Reus: a bone of Saint Peter
36. Tarragona: the bones of Saint Tecla
37. Template: the skeleton of Saint Candia
38. Tortosa: a piece of the Ribbon (belt or sash of a pregnant woman), of the Virgin of the Ribbon