Portal de Caravaca de la Cruz
www.portaldecaravaca.com
Accompanied by a small retinue of which the friend of Gines was a part, as well as the young knight Ahmed Auf, the king dressed in very simple attire, was greeted with anticipation and silence by that large number of captives in the main courtyard of the castle. The city of Caravaca, among which the canon appeared to distinguish two of them dressed in the cape of the order of Santiago, who had surely been taken prisoner in some of the skirmishes that the king Ferdinand maintained with Zeit Abu Zeit in that region , Being one and others greeted with kindness and affection, adding that he came to visit them to communicate that from that day they would enjoy a better attention in all the senses.
When he doubted how to establish a first direct relationship with them, he began by asking each of them what they knew how to do, and when he arrived at Gines, the latter, after showing him the safe conduct that had been issued by him to preach in those lands, He replied that what he knew how to do was to say Mass, an act through which he praised God and made requests for the salvation of others.
When the king was overcome by this discovery, and noticed that he was undoubtedly also indebted to the young man, he asked him to celebrate the ceremony there.
When he answered that he could not carry it out because he did not have the necessary ornaments, the king suggested that where his emissaries should go to find them, the canon replied that he had to ask them to Cuenca.
Zeit Abu Zeit did not hesitate to send urgently to his godson Ahmed, who, escorted by four squires and assisted with two packers, to bring those garments, took roads and sidewalks in the direction of the city of Júcar, through Moratalla, Socovos , Elche de la Sierra, Ayna, Moriscote, Aldazo, Peńas de San Pedro, San Pedro, Balazote, Barrax and La Roda;
The latter name, derived from the Arabic term Rodva, that meant tribute or tax, amount that the transhumant cattle paid for crossing the sidewalks and real glens that converged in the village, word that would later be transformed in La Robda and, later in La Roda ;
A crossroads, and a population in which, after a few infernal days through the Sierra de Alcaraz, they would rest placidly one night in the inn of the Sun, a center that since the liberation of the town by the Christians, attracted a great number Thanks to the extraordinary prestige gained by the good management and attention of the Donate family, who, from Valencia, had settled in this important communications hub, also a stop for errands and caravans that communicated La Mancha with Levante And Murcia, resuming the itinerary to reach Sisante, Casas de Benítez, El Picazo, Alarcón, Valera de abajo, Valeria, Tórtola and Cuenca. The Muslims were surprised by the great welcome they received from both the bishop and the family of Ginés and the Own citizens who, informed of the motive of the trip, interpreted it as a great idea open to understanding and hope, investing diecisie
Days in those about a hundred leagues back and forth until they returned, a space during which the king did not fail to visit the captives whenever his obligations were allowed, bringing comfort and sustenance for them to subsist more relieved.
On the same day, May 3, 1232, the emissaries returned to Caravaca with their ornaments, and immediately the king, after reluctantly persuading Queen Haila to accompany him to the ceremony, this one, perhaps not to contradict him, acceded to the Request, proceeding immediately Ginés to the preparation of the act, taking the canon the surprise that when he opened the wrapper he lacked the cross, fact that made him beg the monarch to forgive him for not being able to say mass without sign so important, moment in which Zeit Abu Zeit, between angry and pious, raised his arms and eyes to the sky in supplication, all present witnesses that two angels, after entering the room through the windows, brought a very showy to the improvised altar Which Chirino had prepared, who immediately began the ceremony.
As Ginés entered the different sections of the mass, some other members of the royal family joined in the group of followers, in addition to those captive Christians who had been allowed their assistance and also those gentlemen of the Order of Santiago, as well as other witnesses who, curiously, or initiated in the faith of Christ by Gines in the dungeons, thought that the time had come to take that definitive step with his monarch.
According to the description that later Gines would make of what happened that day during the mass, it emphasized that, as it turned towards the listeners in order to follow the course of the rite, either to ask for their sins, or to give thanks to God For having gathered them together with him in that act of sacrifice in his honor, he could observe that a majority of them were especially illumined of a special light, that the sweat covered their faces and that seemed to feel anesthetized, and as for the king Zeit Abu Zeit, that his eyes never ceased to look towards that place where the angels bearing the cross had appeared, offering an impression as if he were ecstatic.
Later investigations would clarify that the holy Cross of Caravaca was made with wood of the same one in which Jesus Christ had been crucified and that, to exalt as it deserved the act of conversion of the Moorish king, had been torn by the angels of the neck of San Roberto , Patriarch of Jerusalem.
It would also confirm years later Ginés, who according to the king had told him, he did not know how to act, since from the beginning of the ceremony the saint had gone to heaven, as the Christians used to say, Of praising God, asked him to forgive him for dispensing with the way he had understood his presence up until then, and what he would adopt in the future, and that from that moment on, he had felt how he gradually began to free his conscience from Those burdens that permanently overwhelmed him.
At the end of the ceremony, he retired to his chambers, followed by his family and close friends to reflect on the great spiritual transformation he had undergone, and to think carefully about the step he would take next, and once in his bedroom, Alone the irrevocable evidences proposed by the miracle, drew the conclusion that, no matter how transcendental it might be for the future of his life to dispense with a kingdom, and little more than abandon one of his children, it would undoubtedly be worth leaving Bring to the meeting of the newly appeared religious orientation.
In spite of having made a clear determination, that night would not be very prone to his rest, since he did not stop to wonder if what required by Providence would compensate to leave everything obtained, while the voice of his conscience got him out of doubt when insinuating him That it would be neither the first nor the last that put at stake a privileged material position in exchange for unimaginable spiritual compensations.
Curled up in these thoughts the hours passed without being able to fall asleep, so in the attempt to calm down, he decided to face reality by exposing the following:
"I know that the line to follow is a mission that forces me to leave my children to a great responsibility under the weather of fear of future conflicts, to the fever of the cold of not having a firm hand to calm the anguish of pain I have given my soul and my life for my ideas and my destiny, but when I discover you dressed in another way, I want to put them in your hands. hands."
The next morning, the first thing he would do would be to meet with his justice and finance advisors to develop laws and mandates on how to transfer some of the royal possessions to those who worked them, among whom there were many initiated in the Christian faith, and Especially to that bulky group of captives whom he would set free the same day, promising the guardian of his two eldest sons, fifteen and seventeen years old, who were in command of the region, both now and when they reached the majority Of age, behave tolerantly with Christians.
And in another section of those laws, perhaps for a simple political sense, it also made it very clear that, for the moment, he would not yield the crown to any of them, lest the decision he had taken radically Would result in his complete satisfaction, and could return to direct the inhabitants of that land that he loved so much.
Then he would send emissaries to Toledo to communicate to King Ferdinand what had happened, and request permission to move with his family to live in Cuenca, a place where he had very good references to establish himself once embraced Christianity, and where his friend Chirino would continue to exercise His work, hoping to be granted such a license, as well as to meet with him to strengthen ties of friendship and assign rights in some territories.
Those sent to the capital of the kingdom only had opportunity to be received by the king for a few minutes, since on arrival the monarch was about to leave for one of his usual raids through Andalusia, although being informed of such an important matter , Waited to extend a private document in which he allowed the Moorish king to move to Cuenca, noting that they would have the opportunity to meet to discuss other problems.
As they returned, the members of his embassy, ​​Zeit Abu Zeit, set about preparing all matters relating to the journey and deciding how many things required his departure from Caravaca.
When the emissaries returned and handed him the document signed by Fernando, the king was a little disillusioned, because he expected the Castilian monarch to leave all his occupations and invite him to a punctual interview with him.
Nevertheless, he had decided to leave for Cuenca and, besides, he had permission, but instead of giving up those privileges in favor of Castile, he thought that if Fernando did not come immediately to visit him, he would go and see Jaime I, of whom he was Sure, would abandon any project to receive him, and this monarch would be the main recipient of his offerings.
After a few days, a large caravan of carriages was escorted under the direction of Ahmed, with the king and queen, two of his youngest sons, his advisers in all of them. The fields and people closest to him, many servants and some of those Christians who had been released, who would remain on the way in their places of origin, except those who went to Cuenca.
In that procession, and in a wagon just behind the royal cortege, the canon Don Ginés Pérez Chirino traveled, by express order of the king, who since the miracle had taken place, also at the desire of the monarch, had not separated from him and the To advise them in their first steps as future Christians.
A few days before his departure from Caravaca, Zeit Abu Zeit, at the request of Ginés, had sent a group of six men, accompanied by that personal adviser and close friend of Chirino, besides those two knights of the order of Santiago , Don Pedro Monfort and Belvis and Don Juan de Cuenca, with whom the canon had been meeting those days in order to prepare the arrival to the city, as well as the most appropriate rooms for such high dignities, reason why in Cuenca already would be All ready when the party arrived.
Prior to the departure of those first emissaries, Ginés, with the permission of the monarch, had advanced an e-mail with a series of instructions for Bishop Gonzalo Yáńez, in order to receive them according to the category of personalities who Soon they would arrive in the city, so that once the group of advance of the retinue arrived, the authorities, both governmental and religious were perfectly instructed, and inform the different estates and heads of the different minorities of the arrival of that Moorish king Who would surely convert to Christianity, because he had been the protagonist of a transcendental miracle in Caravaca.
When the watchman observed that the caravan was a league from the city, he advised Bishop Don Gonzalo, and he did not hesitate to give the order that the bells should begin to ring, so that those who wished could attend Such a relevant event.
Before entering Cuenca, Ginés himself, accompanied by two horsemen, requested permission to go ahead and inform the bishop and authorities that everything was going according to plan, and that he himself would present the king and his cortege to the authorities.
Flags from the top of the quarterdeck pointed to the chief who was directing the caravan that all was ready for the reception, and as the procession rose up that steep alley toward the cathedral, the trumpets of the castle began to ring, while The crowd was concentrating in the vicinity of the entrance.
In that still small esplanade a soul could not fit, and when the first wagons appeared, such an uproar formed that barely allowed the entourage to pass.
Among the large group of chariots appeared two, gaily adorned, in which came the kings and their families who, among enthusiastic cheers of the attendants, went to the door of the cathedral.
Bishop Gonzalo himself, Canon Chirino, regidores of the city, leaders of the Muslim and Jewish minorities, Jesus and Cohen, among whom were those knights of the order of Santiago, Monfort and Juan de Cuenca, left the group Receiver and went ahead to receive them, being Ginés, once the king set foot to earth, the person in charge to present to each one of them.
When the monarch, in a pious gesture, attempted to kiss the bishop's ring, he took hold of his arm, implying that the time had not yet come, since this privilege was reserved exclusively for Christians.
Then the rest of the family would descend from the carriages, who would likewise be presented to the authorities, and after the bishop addressed a word of welcome to all the members of the entourage, who, accompanied exclusively by the authorities, He continued up the street to the castle, where the king and his cortege would be lodged.
For a long time the crowd would still remain there, while the bishop continued to ring the bells.
In subsequent months, the citizens of Cuenca would comment on how the Moorish king "was a very well-bred and measured man, human, fair and tall, with a real appearance, very beautiful eyes, a venerable face and full of majesty, He always wore a silk cap on his head, and he was very well dressed and always accompanied by his children and servants. "
Once installed in Cuenca, King Zeit Abu Zeit immediately began to receive Christian doctrine from the hand of Gines himself, who with the bishop's permission approached the citadel daily to offer him his knowledge.
From the first moment, both monarch and canon, regardless of the goals that each one had marked, began to tighten much more those, until that moment ephemeral bonds of friendship and affection.
Gines was a clergyman trained on deep religious roots and strong human feelings: well, he was!
For some reason he had been Don Julian's favorite disciple!
- that simple personage of which day by day more was spoken about the great work that had realized, and settled the foundations of which, from his death, would be the constant to follow by those who had known him, or heard speak of the.
And Ginés was a clear and faithful example as a firm continuator of such longed for projects.
Proof of this is that, perhaps through the bishop's mediation, he had been chosen, first to be a kind of pointer in that cast in which the Moorish king would be the main protagonist of a work that still lacked sequences To finalize the first act, perhaps because some of the actors did not seem to assume with the desired solvency the role for which they had been appointed.
Ginés knew from Zeit Abu Zeit that the queen and her children were hesitant to take the definitive step to conversion, and even seemed to note that the king himself sometimes seemed a little hesitant in the same way, attitudes that discouraged the canon, but Accepted by someone who was aware that a change so important in the life of a human being, should in no case be produced by subjecting it to pressure, but rather assumed freely by those affected, although he would not fail to influence with his example And their work in the preparation of the ground.
But he knew its possibilities, since it was not Don Julian who seduced his parishioners, in addition to his examples, also with miracles;
He would have to limit himself to collaborating in his preparation, since he believed that what had happened in Caravaca to Zeit Abu Zeit were more than enough stimuli to embrace Christianity.
As he was watching a certain weariness in the face of the king, one of those afternoons suggested that he go out for a walk around the area, choosing the Hoz del Júcar, the stage where Don Julian so often walked, where the thought lengthens and attracts To the memory of the visitor sequences that could be carried out, both the alms bishop and those settlers of the neolithic and later civilizations who had the fortune to walk through their eyes that dreamlike landscape, walked thousands of years later by Don Julián, whom in That moment Gines wanted to bring up to try to strengthen the mood of Zeit Abu Zeit in terms of possible doubts.
And the reminder of an extensive cascade of his deeds seemed to have an effect on the Moorish king's sense, for that night the spirit of the beggar bishop echoed in his own conscience, letting himself be heard:
"You should not continue to doubt your decisions, since the insinuations I have shown you are more than eloquent and unmistakable signs of what I have wanted from you since the first time I came to visit you. Those of those who accompany you in supporting you, and to be sure that wherever you are, you will be prepared to make the spiritual preference that I stand for you. "
Through these signs, and with his arduous effort to catch up in the different sections of the Christian religion, within a few weeks, Zeit Abu Zeit, felt ready to receive baptism, as well as confirmation as a Christian, confession and communion, Sacraments widely explained by Gines, of which, despite being convinced that they were the main pillars on which this doctrine was based, it cost him to understand, obviating this facet and admitting that the rejection of that kind of doubt, would still take him Some time, not so for Queen Haila, who despite having also witnessed the miracle, and seconded to her husband in his decision, perhaps because of that feminine sensibility, or thinking that, among other prerogatives , She was going to be the only wife of the monarch, she was so perplexed that it cost him much to believe and, this made him reflect and, of course, to doubt such a transcendental change in his life,
She also received instruction in the teaching of Christian customs, and notions of other behaviors that corresponded to a lady of her rank, the wife of the Moorish Jesus, and those of the Knights of the Conquest of the order of Santiago, families with whom they also began to establish friendship, in order to be able to join as soon as possible to that new world to which they were to belong.
However, all these worries caused the queen to become so stressed that she began to feel unwell and discouraged, wondering if everything else that was supposed to be the call of Jesus was not the result of her imagination, divine intercession, or A temptation, diabolical, signs that made him intransigent to observe another type of light other than that of his faith in Islam, increasing his illness and intensifying in it that suffering from hallucinations in which he saw two characters who wanted to seduce her to follow his Doctrines: Muhammad and Jesus, deciding that she would respect the ways of thinking of her followers, and also those of those she had heard practiced many different ones to understand the presence of God, deducing from these behaviors that over a And other beliefs, she would continue to trust in Allah: that Supreme Being of whom she had no doubt was truly her Lord,
And the teachings which his prophet Muhammad preached, of which he was fully convinced, were the true ones.
When Zeit Abu Zeit came to the knowledge of what happened to his wife, this one, against his will, since at that time the mere fact that he was recognized by a doctor was little more than a sin, he did not hesitate to subject her to such Test, which resulted in the queen being subjected to a deep depression that could degenerate into dementia.
Frightened the monarch before that unforeseeable setback, besides following a treatment that will lead him to improve, expedited the procedures to receive as soon as possible the baptism and other sacraments.
For such a grandiose event, the cathedral had been chosen as a frame, and to administer the baptismal waters to Bishop Gonzalo Yanez himself, assisted by the canon Ginés Pérez Chirino and two priests, before the presence of the authorities and a large group of old Christians, Plus the most outstanding Moors of the city, among which was the family of Jesus.
Also invited were Pedro Monfort Belvis and Don Juan de Cuenca, knights of the Order of Santiago, who would be the godfathers of the baptism of the royal family, receiving the sacred sacrament King Zeit Abú Zeit, who chose to be called Vicente Fernández Belvis, in Honor to his godfather;
Queen Haila, who, somehow forced by the situation and not to displease her husband agreed to be baptized and, at the suggestion of the bishop, chose to be called Elena, as the mother of the great Constantine, Byzantine emperor, who had also become To Christianity.
At the end of that long ceremony which brought together baptism, confession, and communion, carried out with the solemnity which such illustrious persons deserved, the king offered them a banquet in the quarterdeck, to show them the reforms he had introduced in The different rooms, as well as a very special room attached to the main hall which had been fitted as a chapel, where, on its small altar, the image of a crucified Christ hung, and a reproduction of that cross of double arms that had been carried by the angels To preside over the ceremony of the Holy Mass in Caravaca.
That night would be very special for Vincent, since, despite having fulfilled his desire to become a Christian, and being completely convinced of his attitude, he kept thinking about how he had purified himself through those baptismal waters, how he had been absolved of His sins through that confession with the bishop, how he had been confirmed as a Christian by a small sign imposed on his forehead and how he had received the body of Jesus through that sacred form, arriving at the same conclusion that had exposed him several times Gines: "so things were arranged in the doctrine of Jesus since He established them among his most direct followers to make them extend later to the rest of mankind that he was attracted by this devotion, and thus had to accept them: everything, absolutely everything , Was conditioned to have faith. "
Source: Agencias
Privacy policy
- Legal notice
- Cookies