San Romao da Retorta (Lugo) (0)

Did you know that... San Romao da Retorta

And Xanaz, belonging to the parish of San Romao da Retorta, Castrelo, which is part of the parish of Santa Cruz da Retorta, Sestelo and Seixalbos, both places of the parish of Vilamaior de Negral, are located in the municipality of Guntin, in the central plateau of Lugo, in a landscape of meadows and farmland to which shade the characteristic Carballos and chestnut trees. This land was inhabited from very old; castros, defensive towers and the Roman Road XIX, of the Itinerary of Antonino, still subsist giving testimony of it and mixing at present with the daily life of its inhabitants and the constant walk of the pilgrims in its route towards Santiago by the Primitive Way.​

What to see in San Romao da Retorta?

In the small village of San Romao da Retorta the beautiful hermitage, whose Romanesque origin of the twelfth century only preserves the covers and side columns, is at the entrance to the village as not wanting to detract from the replica of the Roman milestone located in the Campo do Busto; The original, which can be found in the Astorga Pilgrimage Museum, dates back to 40 A.D., and was one of the posts that marked the Roman road of the Via XIX that linked Lucus Augusti and Iria Flavia. In Castrelo, among abandoned stone houses, there is a bucolic place known as Campo da Feira, a beautiful carballeira in a green meadow where the local fairs were held.

To discover

The church of Santa Cruz da Retorta is located on the very edge of the Way. It still has original elements of its primitive Romanesque construction in the 12th century, the apse window, with arches, columns and capitals, but according to experts, in its simple structure there are remains of an earlier sanctuary, from the Sueva period around the 5th century. In Sestelo and Seixalbos of its parish church of San Lorenzo de Vilamaior de Negral there are references from the year 1179 but in this document, and as a curiosity, nothing is said about its patron saint San Lorenzo. Of its primitive construction only the central nave and two windows-saeteras that open in its north wall remain.

Festivities

In San Romao da Retorta the Virgen del Carmen is celebrated the third weekend of July and in the parish of Vilamaior de Negral, of which Sestelo and Seixalbos are part, it is the third Sunday of September when they celebrate Los Dolores.

Traditions

The milestone of San Romao da Retorta located in Campo de Busto was moved, back in the nineteenth century, by the owner of the land to another property of his property where he made it serve as a henhouse, where he stayed for a while until one day he was seen by the canon of the cathedral of Lugo and giving notice to the Provincial Council the monolith was taken to a more deserved place, the museum of Astorga. In the milestone is inscribed: "Caio César Augusto, great-grandson of Augustus, Pontiff Maximus, third in power, tribune, consul for the third time, Father of the Fatherland".

Curiosities

In the north front of the church of Santa Cruz da Retorta there is a figure of the Chrismon in which it calls the attention that instead of appearing the Greek letters alpha and omega, that symbolize the Christ like beginning and end of all the things occupy their place four small spheres, one to each side of the X and above and below the horizontal bar of the Chrismon, curiously there is only another one, very similar, in Melide.

The Legend

It is said that in the area known as A Ponte San Amaro there was a hermitage dedicated to San Mauro and that some of its elements could have been moved a long time ago to the church of Santa Cruz da Retorta.