Eremitério Os Santos is a 16th century
hermitage located near the towns of
Picote and
Sendim e Atenor on the
Douro International Natural Park
The Douro International Natural Park () is a natural park in northeast Portugal. With , it is one the largest protected areas in the country. It is located in the municipalities of Miranda do Douro, Mogadouro, Freixo de Espada à Cinta and Figu ...
in
Northern
Northern may refer to the following:
Geography
* North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating ...
Portugal
Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
.
The Hermitage consists of a chapel in ruins and a shelter with
hagiographic
A hagiography (; ) is a biography of a saint or an ecclesiastical leader, as well as, by extension, an wiktionary:adulatory, adulatory and idealized biography of a preacher, priest, founder, saint, monk, nun or icon in any of the world's religi ...
fresco
Fresco ( or frescoes) is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plaster, the painting become ...
es executed in the 16th century in the place known by São Paulo, in the vicinity the chapel of the same name, located about 700 m and closest to the river. The hermitage bears the date of 1553 and the chapel has the date of 1596 inscribed on it. Sculptures and rock graves were identified, a sign of the sacred character of the area and the continuity of rituals and cults that took place there.
The construction of these small chapels was associated with the practice of
hermitic life, but also with the itineraries of devotion.
Fresco
The fresco despite having its central theme on the coronation of
Mary
Mary may refer to:
People
* Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name)
Religion
* New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below
* Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...
, also indicates the hermitic motivation of the shelter with regard to the choice of the Conversion of the two hermits,
Paul of Thebes
Paul of Thebes (; , ''Paûlos ho Thēbaîos''; ; c. 227 – c. 341), commonly known as Paul the First Hermit or Paul the Anchorite, was an Egyptian saint regarded as the first Christian hermit and grazer, who was claimed to have lived alone in ...
and
Anthony the Great
Anthony the Great (; ; ; ; – 17 January 356) was a Christian monk from Egypt, revered since his death as a saint. He is distinguished from other saints named Anthony, such as , by various epithets: , , , , , and . For his importance among t ...
, one of the scenes of the encounter between the two Saints.
The glorious theme of the Coronation of Our Lady is a variant of the
Assumption of Mary
The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Catholic Mariology#Dogmatic teachings, Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows:
It leaves open the question of w ...
and is accompanied by a caption, also painted, in characters that refer to the 16th century, although they may correspond to the slightly earlier period.
References
Christian hermitages in Portugal
Buildings and structures in Bragança District
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