The Coolidge examiner., 1935-06-14

Prepared BY National Geographic Society
Washington. ID. C.--W$U Service.
r JAHDLl out Of sight of the
II smoking factory chimneys
l. l. and scarcely out of hearing
Of the noise and hustle of BARGE
Iona. busiest and most restless city
OF Spain. a medieval Benedictine
monastery cllngs to the face of n
fantastic stone peak that rises bold
ly from the brown foothills of Cata-
luna (Catalonla). II Is Montserrat.
The nations holIest shrine. TO which
thousands OF the Spanish faithful
make pilgrimage each year to pay
homage to what is called the Black
Virgin.
Montserrat Is the name OF the
strange mountain. and also OF the
monastery. which cllngs like a
swallows nest halfway up Its pre-
clpItous cliffs. The Black Virgin.
wooden image darkened by age.
IL not the only reason why 1t Is a
place OF pilgrimage. Montserrat,
In Catalan tradition. Is the Mon.
salvatsh or Monsalvat OF the Mid
die ages. site OF the castle of the
Holy Grail. The Arabs called II
Gistaus. or the stone watchman.
Here Ignatius OF Loyola. wound
ed soldier. knelt In prayer. and went
away to found the Society Of Jesus.
In more recent years the Montserrat
choir school has become celebrated.
"Ah. but senor." hotel man.
ager asked a traveller. 'have you
seen Montserrat? II Is Spaln's most
sacred shrine. Il is very quaint and
old. and the Benedlctlne monks win
let you live with them In the mon
astery for three days! II Is not far
from Barcelona. You should see
the Black Virgin, and the view from
the monastery Is magnificent r.
Monserrat Is accessible to Bar
celona by both railway and road.
One way Is as picturesque as the
other: for. while the highway
climbs TO the monastery In series
OF hairpin turns and horseshoe
curves, the last few miles OF the
35-mile railway journey may be
made on a narrow-gauge rack-and-
pinlon line or In the bobbing cage
OF new aerial galloway.
Trip There Is interesting.
Many, who are In no hurry. choose
the railway and the rack-and-pinion
route once clear of the spreading
suburbs OF Barcelona. the mainline
railroad strikes boldly out into the
beautiful plain OF Sardanola. The
countryside here resembles southern
California; There are green fields
with angular irrigation bitches;
rocky river bottoms. rising at first
gently and then abruptly, into
brush-covered foothills; and scrag-
gly and unkempt clumps OF eucalyp-
tus and pepper trees around the
water holes.
Gradually the scenery changes, as
II enters a region OF irregular hills
and rocky valleys. sparsely COW
cred with vegetation. The line
twists and turns. now hurdllng a
deep ravine on a stone viaduct, now
plunging into a short tunnel.
Not until one Is very close to
Montserrat does the mountain come
into view. The train emerges from
a tunnel and suddenly a giant mass
OF rock seems TO spring from the
foothills. filnging a thousand ca
thedral pinnacles skywardl As the
train swings closer, so that only a
deep river valley separates 1t from
the Brobdingnagian mass, a fam
tastic stone forest Of smoothly
weathered domes, sugar loaves,
minarets and organ pipes Is sill
houetted against the sky.
OF the monastery nothing Is Wis
ible at first. Then, one catches a
glimpse OF tiny buildings which
seem to be carved from the rocky
cliffs themselves. The little build
ings are rather extensive; but
against the vast bulk Of the noun
tain they seem no larger than wren
houses.
The group Of buildings snugly
fills a notch or narrow ravine cut
deep into the mountain side. A
thousand feet above 1t, the topmost
pinnacles of the mountains rise
menaclngly. but the notch Is safe
enough
Thousand Years Old.
While most of the present build
ings are comparatively new, the
monastery itself dates from A. D.
976; and legend reports that nun
Dery that preceded 1t was founded
in $50. So faithfully have the monks
followed the lines Of the older parts
of the monastery In making addi-
tons that even the new garage,
for modern pilgrims who come by