[Gocamino] Mercedario fathers

[David Hough on gocamino]

Rosina asked me to post the following excerpt
from a posting to saintjames at yahoogroups by
Benjamin Villaran (benvillaran AT hotmail.com):

the Mercedario fathers- They belong to the order of
Nuestra Senora de las Mercedes, (Bounties, mercies)
and are as old as the beginning of the reconquista or
liberation of Spain from the moors. Founded by
Wilfrido el Velloso (Willfried the hairy) when he lay
wounded on the field after the battle of Las Navas de
Tolosa, he was approached by king Francisco IV who
offered to give him a boon (merced). Wilfried asked
for a coat of arm=
s, and the monarch responded "what is earned with
blood is paid in blood", a=
nd thrusting his four fingers into Wilfrieds wound he
smeared on the wall what has been the order's blason
or heraldic symbol for close
to a thousand years. They were a mendicant order who
used to ransom christian captives from the moors, and
they paid for Cervantes ransom among many others. On
the outer walls of the cathedral of Toledo are many
chains that
 bound those captive of yore.