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The miracle of Santo Domingo de la Calzada

On the western edge of the province of Rioja, the Way of St. James passes a small town whose cathedral has gone down in the annals of the Camino Francés, who has no shortage of miracles of sacred architecture. But here the memory of a miracle is kept alive that tells us a lot about the pilgrimages of ordinary people and the dangers they could encounter on their way.

Legend has it that a German family once wanted to spend the night in Santo Domingo de la Calzada on their way to Santiago. The innkeeper, a wicked and devious man, smuggled one of his silver cups into their luggage during the night, cried murder the next day, and had all the travelers searched. When the cup was found in the possession of the Germans’ son, the town judge made short work of the case and the accused was hanged. The grieving parents continued their pilgrimage and came through the village again on their way back, passing the gallows. A voice called out to them and their son, who was not dead at all, told the happily shocked parents how St. James had supported him the whole time preventing him from dying. The parents ran to the judge, reported the miracle, and demanded that their son be taken down immediately. The judge was just sitting down to lunch and pointed amusedly to the two roasted chickens in front of him. Their son was as alive as these birds, he said, whereupon they suddenly came back to life and fluttered away.

The story quickly spread beyond the Way of St. James and was taken up and varied in folk poetry and art. In memory of the miracle, a chicken coop was installed in the local cathedral in the 15th century, in which a white rooster and a white hen were kept from then on. Whether they are really replaced every two weeks, as we hear today, one can only hope for the animals’ sake.