1: O Cebreiro - Triacastela

O Cebreiro            

The pilgrim entered Galicia from Leon through the town called Cebreiro. He could either go on towards Lugo or take the route again in Palas de Rei. However, the true route followed the highest and steepest mountains to reach the Sanctuary of O Cebreiro at 1300 metres high. In this place, there was a monastery that was founded in the ninth century and run by the monks of San Giraldo de Aurillac for 400 years.

    
In O CEBREIRO, the pre-Roman homes called Pallozas are preserved. An ethnographic museum has been established in two of these houses. There is also a hospice for pilgrims.

 

Tradition has it that a great Eucharistic miracle happened about the year 1300. Wine turned into blood and bread turned into meat in the hands of a sceptical clergyman that rejected the effort of a peasant that reached the church after having walked through the deep snow to hear Mass.
   
On their going through O Cebreiro in 1486, the Catholic Kings, who were on pilgrimage to Compostela, knelt before the Miracle and donated the glass phials that nowadays hold meat and blood...

The Chalice of the miracle, which is Romanesque from the 12th century, is called the Galician Holy Grail and is thought to have been an inspiration for Wagner’s Parsifal.    
It is also thought that this miracle has to do with the devotion to the Holy Sacrament in Lugo, which is continuously exposed, and the appearance of the chalice in the shields of Lugo and Galicia.

In the temple, which a Romanesque jewel, we can find the Romanesque sculpture of St María la Real do Cebreiro, patron saint of the village. Tradition has it that the Virgin leant her head forward at the moment of the miracle to contemplate it better.

                                                  

    
An important procession in honour of St Mary and the Eucharistic Miracle has been celebrating for a very long time on September 8th and 9th.

 

                                               

 

Hospital

We follow the route on the high mountain that replaces the old road. In HOSPITAL DA CONDESA there was a hospital in the late 9th century, which was founded by the countess doña Egilo. There was also a temple that depended on O Cebreiro.

Liñares

At the beginning of the 8th century people already talked about Linar de Rege, nowadays known as LIÑARES. This was a good place for flax fields, a hospital, and a monastery.

 

Porto do Poio

In PUERTO DO POIO we begin to go down a beautiful mountain landscape that forms the basin of the river Navia.

The name Fonfría del Camino comes from a cold fountain that eased many thirsty pilgrims. From the 16th century to the 19th there was here a hospital for pilgrims dedicated to St Cataline where pilgrims were provided with fire, water, salt and a bed with two blankets.

Biduedo

We pass through BIDUEDO (where there is a hermitage of the Command of St John of Jerusalem), Filloval, as Pasantes... Ramil, which is already mentioned in a document of the ninth century and get to Triacastela, which is the last stage according to the Codex of Calixtus.

Triacastela

The name TRIACASTELA refers to three castles that appear on the tower of the church. In the ninth century, the Earl Gatón founded a monastery that was later donated by Ordoño II to the Church of Compostela. Doña Urraca and Alfonso el Batalleador fought here. Alfonso IX wanted the big city Triacastela Nova to emerge here.

In Triacastela, the old hospital and the temple with Romanesque apse are preserved nowadays.
A monument to the pilgrim has been erected recently in this village. It is made of limestone similar to those the pilgrims wore in their leather bags to take part in the building works of the Cathedral in Compostela.