Description of the attraction
The Monastery of Plata Veronica in Santa Fe is a baroque monastery with a pyramidal dome located in the Santa Fe district, 5 km from the borders of the Spanish resort of Alicante. According to the legend, in 1489 a piece of cloth was brought here from the Vatican, with which Saint Veronica wiped the bleeding face of Christ when he carried his cross to Calvary. Until the 6th century, the canvas was kept in Jerusalem, then, when the Muslims took possession of the holy land, it was transported to Cyprus, and later to Constantinople. In 1453, after fleeing the Turks, the heir to the emperor ended up in Rome with a sacred relic. And already there she fell into the hands of a certain Pedro Mena, who arrived in Rome to receive an appointment as a priest in Alicante.
Today, the relic of the Santa Fe monastery is kept in a special safe behind the main altar, which requires 4 different keys to open, which, in turn, are kept in different places in the city. Another legend tells how in the 15th century, when Alicante suffered from a terrible drought for a year, people came to the monastery to pray in front of the canvas, and a tear fell from the face of Christ imprinted on the canvas, and the next day it began to rain. From that moment on, the annual pilgrimage to Santa Fe began, the purpose of which is to thank for all the good things that have happened in the past year. From 200 to 300 thousand pilgrims annually pass the 7, 5-kilometer path of Peregrina de la Santa Fe from the Cathedral of San Nicolas in Alicante to the Monastery of Veronica's Plata - this is the second largest pilgrimage in Spain. The pilgrims' journey begins early in the morning: most are dressed in black robes, many are walking barefoot after the cross, making stops and refreshing themselves with local mistela wine and homemade buns. When the crowd approaches the monastery (the journey takes about 2, 5 hours), the safe with the relic is opened, candles are lit and the solemn service begins. Still, the celebrations last four days.
