Yours truly with the grand Gothic door and rose window
at Villalcázar de Sirga
Photos in this post 2019 Jessica Knauss
As many readers of this blog know, I wrote my doctoral dissertation on the Cantigas de Santa Maria because they are so inexhaustibly wonderful. Sometimes I don't think about them for a while, but they're always available for another round of fascination.
One reason I keep going back is that the stories they tell are so uplifting. There isn't a single sad ending in the entire set of more than 400 songs. (There are a few questionable ones at first blush, but if a modern reader thinks about them a little, s/he can come away with a message about the power of belief at the very least.)
A monumental pilgrim contemplates the western facade of Villalcázar de Sirga.
Imagine the happiness boost I got recently when I visited one of the sanctuaries most often mentioned in the Cantigas.
The town of Villalcázar de Sirga in Palencia is "two leagues" from Carrión de los Condes, an important stop on the pilgrims' Road to Santiago de Compostela. This route culminates at the end of the known world, Galicia, where the remains of St. James the Apostle were miraculously discovered in the ninth century. The pilgrimage enjoyed enormous popularity for centuries and established a bustling hospitality economy. Shrines close to but not directly on the Road had a vested interest in capturing the attention of so many travelers, and nothing pulled them in like a good miracle--or fourteen. That's right, the Virgin of Villalcázar de Sirga (known as Villasirga at the time of the Cantigas) was a great miracle worker, and the cantigas poets and musicians recorded fourteen of them for posterity, and to get word out about this church so close to the pilgrimage route and attract at least a few of the faithful.
The town pub is called "Las Cantigas"!
Cantiga 31: A farmer loses his cow. He's already had others killed or maimed by wolves, so he prays to the Virgin Mary, promising her the calf the cow is carrying if only the cow comes home. Of course, it does, and promptly gives birth to a healthy calf. The calf is so wonderful, in fact, that the farmer decides not to donate him to the Church, taking him with many other animals to sell in Villasirga. When the farmer tries to sell him, the calf runs away, straight into Mary's church, where he stops in reverence before Mary's altar. The calf eats with the other oxen donated to the church and becomes the church's best working ox, without ever needing to be prodded or beaten. The farmer, accepting the miracle, tells everyone he knows.
Cantiga 217: A powerful count from France arrives in Villasirga while on pilgrimage to Santiago. He has ten knights with him, and wants to enter the church before them. No matter what he does, he can't move past the threshold and set foot inside the church. His men push him so hard that blood gushes from his mouth. There is no going inside this church! The French count finally realizes what's wrong, and confesses his sins right there in the doorway. After that, he walks in effortlessly.
Cantiga 218: A German man who is "paralyzed" (in this case, probably quadriplegic), goes along on the Santiago pilgrimage with a group of people who aren't thrilled to have to deal with his special needs. Even though they make it all the way to Santiago, the German man's afflictions aren't cured. In fact, on the journey back, when they reach Villasirga, he also goes blind! Afraid he'll die and they'll be blamed, the other pilgrims abandon him inside the church. The German man prays in desperation to Holy Mary, and although St. James couldn't cure him, the Virgin of Villasirga does, right there and then. He can see and move about freely. The man returns to his lands to tell everyone about the wonderful miracle and also goes back to Villasirga to make votive offerings.
Cantiga 227: A squire who makes yearly pilgrimages to Villasirga is obliged to go to war in Sevilla, where he's taken captive. He prays to Mary every day for his release. When her feast day, August 2, rolls around, he's especially sad, and his captors ask him what's wrong. When he tells them he wishes he could be in Villasirga for the feast day, they beat him all over and throw him into an even worse dungeon. Mary appears to the squire and breaks his chains. The captors don't hear any activity, and they don't see him walk out of the prison. When he arrives in Villasirga, he hangs his broken chains at the church as a testament to the miracle granted him.
Cantiga 229: Moorish soldiers sent by the King of León invade Villasirga, and the Christians of the area flee in terror. The Moors enter the unprotected church and try to tear it down and burn it, but there's no way. Holy Mary makes them lose the strength in their limbs and go blind. In the end, they have to be carried out of the church. The message is that the Virgin is more powerful than any of Castile's enemies and can take them on any day.
Soup tureens that have "Las Cantigas" painted on them!
They weren't for sale. Of course I asked!
Cantiga 232: A knight from Treviño has the best goshawk in the kingdom, and one day while hunting, he loses it. He searches all day and never finds the prized raptor. He sends his men to look far and wide, but though they never stop searching, they don't find the goshawk for four months. The knight weeps so much he thinks he'll go mad, then has the brilliant idea to have a wax goshawk made. He takes the votive offering and places it on the altar in Villasirga, invoking the Virgin's great power in his prayers. He returns home, and when he opens the door, he sees the goshawk on the perch where it should always have been.
Cantiga 234: A deaf-mute boy is raised by Don Rodrigo, one of the king' noblemen. Rodrigo goes to Villasirga with the boy and has him sleep right in front of the altar. Rodrigo has a mass in honor of the Virgin sung in the morning. During the "secret," the boy's tongue loosens, and by the time mass is over, the boy speaks and hears perfectly.
Cantiga 243: Two of King Alfonso's falconers foolishly go hunting by themselves. Their falcons send the ducks they're hunting into a frozen stream. The falconers run to the ice to see where the ducks are and fall into the water. The ice covers them over! They call out to Mary for some time, and finally the ice dissolves and they get out of the stream, unharmed.
Cantiga 253: A Frenchman has committed such tremendous sins that his priest sets him a hefty penance: He must walk the pilgrims' Road to Santiago carrying a 24-pound iron staff big enough for all the other pilgrims to see. He makes it to Villasirga, and begs the Virgin's forgiveness, laying the heavy staff at the altar. When he finishes his prayer, the staff breaks in two, and the pieces cannot be moved from where they fall. (The Virgin is telling him he needn't continue with the penance because she forgives him already.)
Cantiga 268: Although she attempted to find a cure for her paralysis at many other shrines, a French woman doesn't get well until she comes to Villasirga. After offering candles and prayers, she can move about freely.
Cantiga 278: A blind French woman makes the pilgrimage to Santiago. Although she's not expecting it, in Villasirga she regains her sight. On the way home, she comes upon another blind pilgrim. She tells him not to bother going to Santiago. He'll be cured in Villasirga, without a doubt.
Cantiga 301: Although a man always fasts on Mary's high holidays in her honor, he has committed a serious crime, the sentence for which is death. In prison awaiting execution, he prays to Mary. In his dreams, she appears in his cell, breaks his chains and takes his hand. He wakes to find himself in front of the altar at Villasirga! People in the church witness his appearance as if out of thin air. Medieval teleportation, folks.
Cantiga 313: A ship sails into a terrible storm and everyone is in danger of losing their lives. They call out to all the saints, but the storm continues and gets fiercer. When a priest has everyone on board sing Salve Regina for the Virgin of Villasirga, a white dove appears, and the sea calms. The ship arrives safely in port in the morning.
A framed print of Cantiga 31's miniatures in the bar.
Cantiga 355: A man is pursued relentlessly by a young woman he doesn't like at all. She follows him on his travels, asking constantly why they can't get married and why don't they make love just to try it out. When they stop at Villasirga, he donates the money for one of the stone blocks needed to build the church. This is an important investment, both financially and spiritually. A final rejection is the last straw for the young lady, and she accuses the man of rape in the spirit of bitter revenge. He's taken immediately to the gallows, but through a miracle of Mary's doing, the very stone block he's bought for the church appears under his feet, keeping him from strangling. He stands upon the block all night, and in the morning, everyone sees the miracle and lets him go.
(I don't love this last one with the false rape accusation, but I think it's the only one in the Cantigas, at least.)
As you can see, these happy miracles describe every level of society and include details the history books of the time would be hard pressed to include. The Virgin Mary, especially as expressed in her image at Villasirga, is the universal mother and thirteenth-century Spain's greatest hope for prosperity, happiness, health, and salvation.
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