Hermitage of San Cecilio - Granada

This small hermitage, where San Cecilio is venerated, was built in the middle of the 18th century , and is located within the walls of the Alcazaba, dating from the 10th-11th century.

On one side of the wall, part of the staircase has been preserved that gave access to the upper part, which has now been converted into a chapel.

The chapel occupies the interior of the old gate of Hernán Román , so named after the person who had some orchards nearby in 1537.

This gate connected the Alcazaba Vieja (Old Citadel) to the suburb of the Moorish quarter , and is the oldest gate in the walls of Granada.

San Cecilio is considered the first bishop of the city, patron saint of Granada and whose parish is located in the Realejo. According to tradition , Cecilius came to Spain with the apostle Saint James and, after taking his post in Ilíberis, was captured and tortured by the Romans . In 57 he was tortured and burned in a lime kiln on Mount Ilipulitanus along with eleven other Christians.

The feast of Saint Cecilius has been commemorated for many years on the first Sunday of February, with a magnificent pilgrimage to the Abbey of Sacromonte, in whose catacombs the relics of the saint are kept.

We end with the experiences of Manuel Lopez Ortega, an Albaicinero.

When Manuel was a child, his grandfather told him that many years ago, in the late 19th century and early 20th century, a hermit brother lived in the hermitage of San Cecilio. This brother, named Farruguia, lived on charity and his cassock was dirty and torn. The children of the neighborhood scolded the brother, who hid behind the door in fear. To the children of the neighborhood, Farruguia was a strange figure, for they did not know whether the brother was imprisoned there, as a promise, or as a punishment. Farrugia, the last hermit of San Cecilio, lived in that small space until his death. Years later, when Manuel was about twelve years old, in the 1950s and 1960s, the tourists passing by the hermitage "threw pesetas, dosrales, gordas, or perrillas in it". Manuel tells that when no one saw him, he took the money with a piece of thread to go to the cinema in the Plaza Aliatar...".

Willem Vandenameele