The Hermitage of Santa Cecilia

Near the boundary of the municipality of Fuencaliente de La Palma with the municipalities of Los Llanos de Aridane and El Paso lies the hermitage of Santa Cecilia, the only temple on the island dedicated to the patroness of music. It is a circular-shaped building, functionally constructed, highlighted by its dome which gives it a unique beauty in the landscape where it is located, on the lava flows from the eruption of the volcano in 1712, also known as the volcano of El Charco.

This hermitage was built between 1948 and 1949 at the initiative of the landowner José Miguel de Sotomayor and was dedicated to Santa Cecilia in expression of veneration to the Patroness of his wife’s name, Cecilia Narváez Oliván[1]. At the entrance of the temple, there is a holy water font and above it, a large plaster image of Christ of the Expiration, and on the walls, the stations of the Via Crucis can be found. The presbytery is small in proportion to the rest of the temple.

A neo-Gothic altarpiece with three niches presides over the space, where to the right is a plaster image of Saint Joseph, to the left is the image of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, also made of plaster, and finally, in the center is the image of Santa Cecilia, the titular of the temple, acquired from the workshops of Olot in 1949, the same year the unique hermitage was blessed on November 22. As Iván Rodríguez Sánchez explains, “this is a life-size image with a green tunic and red mantle, typical attire of Roman martyrs, holding an harp in her left hand, the most common attribute of this saint”[2].

On the feast of the Patroness, a solemn mass is celebrated, sung by the local choir and presided over by the parish priest of the municipality. At its conclusion, the image processes around her hermitage, accompanied by her devoted faithful, priests, and authorities. Nearby, a school was also built for the children of El Charco, which has been abandoned for years. The surroundings include a simple square that, like a magnificent viewpoint situated above the main road, allows one to contemplate from the slope the path followed by one of the arms of the aforementioned volcanic eruption. The lush pine forest is recovering from the aftermath of the fire in August 2009. Nature is great.

Notes

[1] Díaz Lorenzo, Juan Carlos. Fuencaliente. History and Tradition. Madrid, 1994.

[2] Rodríguez Sánchez, Iván. “Santa Cecilia on the island of La Palma”. In www.bienmesabe.org, November 20, 2008 (nº 236).

The hermitage pays tribute to the patroness of music

The hermitage is a reference among the religious constructions of La Palma

The dome is the most striking architectural element of its construction

Photos: Rodrigo Rodríguez Palacios and Fernando Rodríguez Sánchez (palmerosenelmundo.com)