Shrine of Santo Hermano Pedro - Vilaflor de Chasna

The Shrine of Santo Hermano Pedro is a pilgrimage temple whose history begins in 1766 with the arrival of the male branch of the Bethlemite Brothers, who began building a church on the exact spot where Saint Brother Pedro was born.

But due to the political reforms implemented in Spain in the 19th century, the church remained unfinished. It was not until 1981 , with the arrival of the Bethlem sisters, that the project was continued. The work was resumed in 1991 and completed in 2002 , when it was finished, consecrated and blessed, coinciding with the year of Brother Pedro's canonization.

It is one of the three major pilgrimage sites dedicated to the cult of Brother Pedro, together with the Cave of the Saint near El Médano (where he sheltered in winter with his cattle) and the Church of San Francisco el Grande in La Antigua Guatemala , where his tomb is located.

This church in Vilaflor contains a relic of a vertebra of the saint , as well as the bell with which he summoned the faithful. The main altar contains the images of Saint Brother Pedro and Guatemalan Blessed María Encarnación Rosal , reformer of the Bethlemit Sisters. The central part of the altarpiece shows in high relief the scene of the Nativity in Bethlehem , the central theme of Bethlehemite spirituality.

It is a single-aisled church with an adjacent monastery run by the Bethlem sisters. The sanctuary is made entirely of stone and is located just behind the parish church of San Pedro Apóstol in the heart of the city.

It is precisely from St. Peter's Church that the so-called "Way of Brother Peter" begins, a shepherd's route that the saint used to pass through the Chasna region with his flock; this route leads to the Grotto of Saint Peter. Today, on the saint's feast day in April, hundreds of pilgrims walk this route which is of great religious-historical importance.

willem vandenameele