Calamanda

ON ST. CALAMANDA, VIRGIN MARTYR IN CATALONIA

from the Spanish of Antonius Vincent Domenec.

Calamanda, Virgin Martyr in Catalonia (St.)

I. B.

[1] Of what country St. Calamanda was, and what kind of martyrdom she endured, I have been quite unable to ascertain: for which reason I am compelled, as often in this history, once again to complain of the negligence of our predecessors. It is established, however, that at Calaf, the veneration of St. Calamanda, where her relics are preserved, there flourishes great devotion toward her, and that God, through her patronage, bestows many benefits upon mortals. In the parish and collegiate church of that town, dedicated to St. James, a special altar is dedicated to St. Calamanda, her altar, and a statue of her is placed there, holding forth a branch of palm in her hand. There is also another image of her, her image; displaying only the head down to the shoulders, elegantly crafted, and of such ancient workmanship that no one there claims ever to have learned by report whence or in what manner it was brought there. That image is to be found on the altar itself, within a small enclosure fashioned in the manner of a sacrarium: and in the hollow of this statue, her relics, the relics of the holy Virgin are kept.

[2] When Friar Benedictus de Toco, Bishop of Vic, visited the church of Calaf, attested by the tradition of their forebears; he inquired of Joan Ferrand, a Canon of that Church, whence they were certain that these were the relics of St. Calamanda. Ferrand replied: "Our fathers have declared it to us." The pious Bishop approved the answer, and exhorted them to retain their long-established devotion toward the holy Virgin.

[3] The day dedicated to her, namely the Nones of February, has the same solemnity as a Sunday in that town and the neighboring places. the solemnity of her feast, After the Office of her day has been performed with great solemnity, a public procession is organized with splendid appointments and pomp, and the body of the Saint, placed upon a bier, is carried around with extraordinary piety: Priests and the rest of the Clergy attend, clad in copes (as they call them) and carrying scepters, just as is customary on the feast of Corpus Christi. The sworn officials, that is, the Magistrates, attend, adorned with their proper insignia. Finally, all the townspeople flock together, and from other places a great throng of people.

[4] If there should be a scarcity of timely rains, threatening the fields with barrenness, rain divinely sought through her aid, after certain customary supplications to holy places have been performed, this is the last resort when all is nearly despaired of: to carry the relics of St. Calamanda to a place half a league from the town, which is called Soler Lledus. There, when the Divine Mysteries have been performed with great solemnity, and sometimes a sermon preached to the gathered crowd, the image and relics of the Saint are left in that place for some period of time, while very many people flock from all sides, partly for veneration, partly for the protection of that divine treasure. Moreover, such is the benignity of the propitious Deity toward those peoples, obtained by the merits and prayers of the holy Virgin, that they say they have never seen the sacred bones carried back to Calaf without a copious outpouring of rain.

[5] Don Sebastian Grau, a Priest in the Cathedral Church of Barcelona, and Joan Sagarra, both natives of the town of Calaf, assert that they have very often been present at the above-mentioned supplications for obtaining rain, and have always returned home thoroughly drenched.

[6] There is at Calaf a confraternity devoted to the honor of St. Calamanda, governed by four young men from that town and the neighboring villages. rain usually obtained: the Office of the feast. Her feast is celebrated on February 5, and the double Office is performed according to the rite and ceremonies of the Roman Church, and her name is expressed in the Collect, as they call it, both in the Mass and in the Hours.

a Philippus Ferrarius also includes her in his General Catalogue of Saints, but calls her Calamandia. Juan Tamayo de Salazar in his Spanish Martyrology gives the Acts of St. Calamanda from Domenec: and questions whether she may not be one of the companions of St. Ursula.

b Domenec in the title of this account relates that the church was formerly a monastery of Canons Regular.

c Tamayo translates thus: "These things and the altar are in a certain sacrarium of the chapel, in the interior of whose wall the sacred relics of the blessed Virgin and Martyr are hidden."

d The same Tamayo: "They flock to the church of the town of Soler de Lledus."