Albergue in Castrojeriz

[Rosina Lila]

Hello you all,
The San Anton albergue in Castrojeriz reopened last Sunday after being
renovated; it will remain open until next October under the sponsorship of the
Madrid Association of Friends of the Camino.
The order of San Anton was an outgrowth of the 9th Century eleemosynary order
of the Dauphin founded by nine French noblemen. From its inception, the
members of the San Anton order dedicated themselves to the search of Saint
Anthony's relics, in places as far away as Egypt, and to the cure of the illness then
known as San Anton's fire (ignis sacer). The San Anton brothers adapted the
"Tau" as an emblem one hundred years before the knights Templar did so.
The San Anton fire was an affliction suffered by many North and Central
Europeans making the pilgrimage to Santiago; it consisted of a gangrene-like
burning infection. The pilgrims so afflicted would ask the SanAnton brothers to
touch their wounds with their staves, which were fashioned  in the shape of a
Tau.. The brothers also fed the sick pilgrims with bread baked in their own
monastery. Most pilgrims were cured by the time they arrived in Santiago, only to
fall sick again when they returned to their homeland, which, in turn,
necessitated another pilgrimage to Santiago, and so on and on.
Centuries later it was found that the San Anton Fire infirmity was, in fact,
a vascular illness caused by eating bread made with whole grain that had been
infected by a quasi poisonous mushroom then abundant in North and Central
Europe; when those afflicted traveled to Santiago the change in diet alleviated
their condition, as did, of course, the miraculous touch of a San Anton
brother's Tau staff.
Warm regards,
Rosina


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