To Zaragoza...

1 Jan 2012

To celebrate the New Year, a friend and I decided to go to Zaragoza in the region of Aragon.

Resting along the Ebro River, Zaragoza is Spain's 5th largest city. The city plays a particularly important role in the history of Christianity in Spain.

It was in Zaragoza that the Virgin Mary visited the Apostle James when he was in Spain--trying to convert people to Christianity. In his despair, he prayed for help, and the Virgin Mary appeared to him with a pillar/column. She instructed him to make a church where it stood and promised that the site would endure there until the end of time and that many miracles would be worked there.

The church that he constructed is now known as El pilar. I'll write more about the cathedral tomorrow--since we'll likely visit it then.

Zaragoza is also famous for La Seo--a cathedral that has been under restoration for some time. In fact, there was a period of 30 years in which the cathedral was closed to the public.