By RD
AS MY husband, two daughters, and I traversed the Spanish countryside of Catalonia, we boarded the train at Placa d’ Espania station and took platform R going to Manresa for 1 1/2 hour. We got off at Aeri de Montserrat station and took a cable car ride to Montserrat.
Tucked away among the jagged peaks of Montserrat is the home of “La Moreneta,” or the Black Madonna.
In 880 AD, it was said that a light floated down the mountain for six consecutive Saturdays. A search party headed by Bishop Olesa de Montserrat went to investigate. The young shepherds were drawn to the undiscovered cave by a celestial light. Inside the cave, they found a statue of the Black Madonna also called the La Moreneta.
It was mentioned in Britannica that the evangelist St. Luke, a physician and icon painter, is said to have painted the Black Madonna of Czestochowa and carved the wooden statue of La Moreneta. It was later taken to Spain by St Peter, hidden in a cave during the Moorish occupation.
In the pages of Fundacio Catalunya La Pedrera, Montserrat is a rocky jagged sawtooth mountain, a sacred mountain to the Catalans. Its history dates back million years ago through a combination of geological processes dating back to the Paleogene and Neogene periods. The rock formations in Montserrat are composed of a pink conglomerate, a mixture of hardened and eroded rocks, sand, silt, and limestone. In comparison to other mountains in Catalunya, they are tougher and able to withstand erosion.
The mountain is located at the convergence of geological fault lines. According to mystics these fault lines carry supernatural significance, magnetic energies released through the cracks can be very powerful, acting like arteries of the earth and the convergence of these lines creates a strong energy source called vortex which emits the highest energy called the heart chakra giving significance to spiritual possibilities and mysterious circumstances.
Given the geographic background of the mountain, Montserrat has become a hotspot for UFOs, alien sightings, strange lights in the sky, paranormal occurrences, and countless strange disappearances over the years.
Long before the discovery of the Black Madonna and the construction of the abbey, Montserrat was already a famous place of worship by Celtic pagans. A temple dedicated to Venus once is now replaced by the chapel of St. Michael.
The Santa Maria de Montserrat Monastery of the Benedictine Abbey was founded in the 11th Century. The monastery was destroyed by Napoleon’s troops during the Peninsular War from 1807 to 1814. Only little remains of the original Romanesque building. Its current structure is a mixture of Gothic and Renaissance architecture dating back from the 16th century and was rebuilt in the 19th century.
The Romanesque statue of La Moreneta is kept in a small ornately decorated altar located above the apse of the Basilica.
Queuing up to the flight of stairs leading to an opulent throne, I remember my Lola Nena and her devotion to Nuestra Senora Dela Regla of Opon now Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu. The image also survived the destruction and pillage of the Moors.
According to my Lola Nena, I had been very sickly before reaching 7-9 years old, so I have been perennially in and out of the hospital for several years. She consistently visited the parish on the anniversary month of Nuestra Senora Dela Regla of Opon every November to pray for my health.
Like the Nuestra Senora Dele Regla, La Moreneta is a favorite among millions of devotees and the faithful. As I reached the miraculous image, I prayed for the repose of Lola Nena’s soul and the intergenerational healing of our family.
References : Britannica, Fundacio Catalunya La Pedrera, Wikipedia
