Dominic de la Calzada (or Dominic of the Causeway) ( es, Santo Domingo de la Calzada) (1019 – 12 May 1109) was a

saint In religious belief, a saint is a person who is recognized as having an exceptional degree of Q-D-Š, holiness, likeness, or closeness to God. However, the use of the term ''saint'' depends on the context and Christian denomination, denominat ...

from a cottage in

Burgos Burgos () is a city in Spain located in the autonomous community of Castile and León. It is the capital and most populated municipality of the province of Burgos. Burgos is situated in the north of the Iberian Peninsula, on the confluence of t ...

very close to

La Rioja La Rioja () is an autonomous community and province in Spain, in the north of the Iberian Peninsula. Its capital is Logroño. Other cities and towns in the province include Calahorra, Arnedo, Alfaro, Haro, Santo Domingo de la Calzada, and N� ...

Life

Born Domingo García in Viloria de Rioja, he was the son of a peasant named Ximeno García. His mother was named Orodulce. A shepherd, he tried to join the

Benedictine order , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

first at Valvanera and then at

San Millán de la Cogolla San Millán de la Cogolla () is a sparsely populated municipality in La Rioja, (Spain). The village is famous for its twin monasteries, Yuso and Suso (Monasterio de San Millán de Yuso and Monasterio de San Millán de Suso), which were declared a ...

, but was turned away."History of the City", Santo Domingo de la Calzada
/ref> He then became a

hermit A hermit, also known as an eremite (adjectival form: hermitic or eremitic) or solitary, is a person who lives in seclusion. Eremitism plays a role in a variety of religions. Description In Christianity, the term was originally applied to a Ch ...

in the forests near Ayuela, near the present-day town of

Santo Domingo de la Calzada Santo Domingo de la Calzada is a municipality in La Rioja, Spain, situated on the banks of the Oja River. Its name refers to its founder, Dominic de la Calzada, who built a bridge, hospital, and hotel here for pilgrims on the French Way the most ...

, until 1039. In 1039, he began working with Gregory IV of Ostia (Gregorio),

bishop of Ostia The Roman Catholic Suburbicarian Diocese of Ostia is an ecclesiastical territory located within the Metropolitan City of Rome in Italy. It is one of the seven suburbicarian dioceses. The incumbent Bishop is cardinal Giovanni Battista Re. Since 11 ...

, who had been sent to

Calahorra Calahorra [] ( an, Calagorra, la, Calagurris) is a municipality in the comarca of Rioja Baja, near the border with Navarre on the right bank of the Ebro. During Ancient Rome, Ancient Roman times, Calahorra was a municipium known as ''Calagurris ...

as a

papal The pope ( la, papa, from el, πάππας, translit=pappas, 'father'), also known as supreme pontiff ( or ), Roman pontiff () or sovereign pontiff, is the bishop of Rome (or historically the patriarch of Rome), head of the worldwide Cathol ...

envoy to combat a plague of

locusts Locusts (derived from the Vulgar Latin ''locusta'', meaning grasshopper) are various species of short-horned grasshoppers in the family Acrididae that have a swarming phase. These insects are usually solitary, but under certain circumst ...

that afflicted

Navarre Navarre (; es, Navarra ; eu, Nafarroa ), officially the Chartered Community of Navarre ( es, Comunidad Foral de Navarra, links=no ; eu, Nafarroako Foru Komunitatea, links=no ), is a foral autonomous community and province in northern Spain, ...

and

.Santo Domingo de la Calzada: Historia de la ciudad
Gregory ordained Dominic a priest. Together they built a wooden bridge over the

Oja River Rio Oja is a river in the La Rioja province of northern Spain. It flows through the Oja Valley past the town and municipality of Ezcaray Ezcaray is a town and municipality in the Oja Valley in the La Rioja region of northern Spain. The name is ...

to help pilgrims on the

Way of St. James The Camino de Santiago ( la, Peregrinatio Compostellana, "Pilgrimage of Compostela"; gl, O Camiño de Santiago), known in English as the Way of St James, is a network of pilgrims' ways or pilgrimages leading to the shrine of the Twelve Apostle ...

. Gregory died in 1044, and Dominic returned to Ayuela, where he began developing the area. He cleared trees, cultivated the earth, and began to build a paved causeway (in Spanish, ), which served as an alternate route to the traditional

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

causeway between

Logroño Logroño () is the capital of the province of La Rioja, situated in northern Spain. Traversed in its northern part by the Ebro River, Logroño has historically been a place of passage, such as the Camino de Santiago. Its borders were disputed b ...

and

. Dominic's causeway became the principal route between

Nájera Nájera () is a small town, former bishopric and now Latin Catholic titular see, former capital of the Kingdom of Navarre, located in the "Rioja Alta" region of La Rioja, northern Spain, on the river Najerilla. Nájera is a stopping point on the F ...

and Redecilla del Camino. Dominic was joined in this work by Juan de Ortega. To better the conditions of the pilgrims that began to use his new causeway, he replaced the wooden bridge that he had built with Gregory with one made of stone, and constructed on the site of an old fort, a building that served as a hospice for travelers. Today, it is the , which is a used as a

hostel A hostel is a form of low-cost, short-term shared sociable lodging where guests can rent a bed, usually a bunk bed in a dormitory, with shared use of a lounge and sometimes a kitchen. Rooms can be mixed or single-sex and have private or shared b ...

by modern-day pilgrims. The town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada began as a few houses built around the hermitage of the saint in his lifetime. At this death in 1109, the village had grown in population.

Alfonso VI of Castile Alphons (Latinized ''Alphonsus'', ''Adelphonsus'', or ''Adefonsus'') is a male given name recorded from the 8th century (Alfonso I of Asturias, r. 739–757) in the Christian successor states of the Visigothic kingdom in the Iberian peninsula. ...

annexed La Rioja in 1076 and seeing that Dominic's efforts contributed to the Castilianization of the region, decided to support him and his projects. He visited Dominic in 1090 and thereafter Dominic, assisted by his follower Juan de Ortega, began construction on a church dedicated to

Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, names and titles), was ...

and the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

. This was consecrated by the

bishop of Calahorra A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is ca ...

in 1106. Dominic died in 1109."Santo Domingo de la Calzada", Pilgrim Pathways
His church, later the

Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada The Cathedral of Santo Domingo de la Calzada is a Roman Catholic cathedral in the village of Santo Domingo de la Calzada in La Rioja, Spain. It is dedicated to the Saviour and St Mary. History Santo Domingo de la Calzada is on the Camino de Sa ...

, was where he was buried, and it was elevated to the rank of cathedral after being placed in the jurisdiction of the

Diocese of Calahorra In Ecclesiastical polity, church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided Roman province, pro ...

in the 1230s. Due to the development of his public works projects he is the

Patron Saint A patron saint, patroness saint, patron hallow or heavenly protector is a saint who in Catholicism, Anglicanism, or Eastern Orthodoxy is regarded as the heavenly advocate of a nation, place, craft, activity, class, clan, family, or perso ...

of the Spanish

Civil Engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

Miracles

Miracles are attributed to Dominic, among them the healing of a French

knight A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood finds origins in the Gr ...

who had been possessed by the

devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of t ...

and who was freed of his affliction by visiting the

sepulcher A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be called ''immureme ...

of Dominic. Another concerns the healing of a German pilgrim named Bernard in the fifteenth century, who was cured of an affliction of the eyes by visiting Dominic's tomb. Another concerns the healing of a blind

Norman Norman or Normans may refer to: Ethnic and cultural identity * The Normans, a people partly descended from Norse Vikings who settled in the territory of Normandy in France in the 10th and 11th centuries ** People or things connected with the Norm ...

who was cured when he visited the cathedral.

Legend

The most famous miracle, however, concerns that of the rooster and the chicken, which is said to have taken place at Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The story goes that in the 14th century, a German 18-year-old named Hugonell, from

Xanten Xanten (, Low Rhenish: ''Santen'') is a town in the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located in the district of Wesel. Xanten is known for the Archaeological Park, one of the largest archaeological open air museums in the wor ...

, goes on pilgrimage to

Santiago de Compostela Santiago de Compostela is the capital of the autonomous community of Galicia, in northwestern Spain. The city has its origin in the shrine of Saint James the Great, now the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, as the destination of the Way of St ...

with his parents. A Spanish girl at the hostel where they were staying makes sexual advances toward Hugonell; Hugonell rejects her advances. Angry at this, the girl hides a silver cup in the German's bag and then informs the authorities that the youth had taken it. Hugonell is sentenced to the

gallows A gallows (or scaffold) is a frame or elevated beam, typically wooden, from which objects can be suspended (i.e., hung) or "weighed". Gallows were thus widely used to suspend public weighing scales for large and heavy objects such as sacks ...

, in accordance with the laws of

Alfonso X of Castile Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

. The parents sadly decide to examine their son's body, still hanging on the gallows, but suddenly hear his voice –he tells them that Saint Dominic has saved his life. His parents quickly make their way to Santiago de Compostela to see the magistrate. The magistrate, who is at the time eating dinner, remarks: "Your son is as alive as this rooster and chicken that I was feasting on before you interrupted me." And in that moment, the two birds jump from the plate and begin to sing and crow happily.

Analysis of the story

The first element of the tale, that of a hanged pilgrim, is found in many collections of miracles, with the salvation from death of the victim attributed to not only Dominic, but also to

Saint James the Great James the Great, also known as James, son of Zebedee, Saint James the Great, Saint James the Greater, Saint James the Elder, or Saint Jacob (Aramaic ܝܥܩܘܒ ܒܪ ܙܒܕܝ, Arabic يعقوب, Hebrew בן זבדי , '' Yaʿăqōḇ'', Latin '' ...

, or to the

, with the story taking place in various cities such as

Barcelos, Portugal Barcelos () is a city and a municipality in Braga District in the Minho Province, in the north of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 120,391, in an area of 378.90 km2. With 60 parishes, it is the municipality with the highest number of par ...

. Versions of the tale are found in the Milagros de Nuestra Señora by

Gonzalo de Berceo Gonzalo de Berceo (ca. 1197 – before 1264) was a Castilian Spanish poet born in the Riojan village of Berceo, close to the major Benedictine monastery of San Millán de la Cogolla. He is celebrated for his poems on religious subjects, written ...

(Miracle No. 6), the 175th Cantiga de Santa María by Alfonso X, and in the ''

Codex Calixtinus The (also ''Compostellus'') is the main witness for the 12th-century , or the Book of Saint James. It is a pseudepigraph attributed to Pope Callixtus II; its principal author or compilator is referred to as "Pseudo-Callixtus", often identified wi ...

''. The second part of the tale, the miracle of the dancing roasted chicken and rooster, is unique to Santo Domingo de la Calzada, although a very similar story appears in the English carol "King Herod and the Cock", and related notions can also be found in

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

concerning the mythical land of

Cockaigne Cockaigne or Cockayne () is a land of plenty in medieval myth, an imaginary place of extreme luxury and ease where physical comforts and pleasures are always immediately at hand and where the harshness of medieval peasant life does not exist. ...

, "where grilled geese fly directly into one's mouth".

Veneration

In memory of Dominic's miracle, a rooster and chicken, with white feathers, are kept alive at the cathedral all year round. A different rooster and chicken are switched each month, although they are called descendants of the original birds who miraculously danced even though roasted. The pairs of roosters and chickens, when they are not at the cathedral, are kept in a

chicken coop Poultry farming is the form of animal husbandry which raises domesticated birds such as chickens, ducks, turkeys and geese to produce meat or eggs for food. Poultry – mostly chickens – are farmed in great numbers. More than 60 billion chicke ...

called the Gallinero de Santo Domingo de la Calzada, which the Cofradía de Santo Domingo (''Confraternity of Santo Domingo'') maintains with the help of donations. A

wayside shrine A wayside shrine is a religious image, usually in some sort of small shelter, placed by a road or pathway, sometimes in a settlement or at a crossroads, but often in the middle of an empty stretch of country road, or at the top of a hill or mo ...

() built in 1445 holds a

relic In religion, a relic is an object or article of religious significance from the past. It usually consists of the physical remains of a saint or the personal effects of the saint or venerated person preserved for purposes of veneration as a tangi ...

associated with the miracle: a piece of wood from the gallows from which Hugonell was hanged. Medieval pilgrims gathered the feathers of these favored birds, or got them from the priest, and would affix them to their hats. Another tradition claimed that if the birds ate breadcrumbs directly from the end of the pilgrim's staff, that pilgrim would arrive safely in Compostela. The German pilgrim Hermann Künig (15th century) claimed to have seen the room where the roasted birds began to sing and dance; other documents written by pilgrims state that Hugonell's shirt as well as the gallows had been conserved by the church of Santo Domingo. These artifacts are now lost. A verse commemorating this miracle runs: ("Santo Domingo de la Calzada / Where a chicken sang after being roasted"). Chicken-shaped pastries called ("miracles of the saint") are widely available in the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, also in commemoration of the miracle.

Notes

External links

Saint of the Day, May 12: ''Dominic of the Causeway''
at ''SaintPatrickDC.org''

at th
Christian Iconography
web site

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dominic De La Calzada Spanish Roman Catholic saints 1019 births 1109 deaths Spanish hermits Camino de Santiago 12th-century Christian saints