Camino Photo of the Day: San Juan Bautista High Altar and the Mystery of Obanos

Here you can see the high altar, a stark and colourful contrast to the white kitchen tile that covers the interior of the church. Now might be a good time to mention the “Mystery of Obanos”. This story is told in the form of a mystery play performed by the whole town every other year.

This is the (very) brief version:

Some time in the medieval era, a noblewoman of Aquitaine named Felicia went on pilgrimage to Santiago. Profoundly moved by her experience, on the way back home she decided to give up her life of indolent wealth and enter religious life. When she did not return home, her brother Guillén (or Guillermo in Spanish) went looking for her along the Camino and throughout northern Spain.

When at last he found her, he tried to persuade her to return home. She refused, and he grew angrier and angrier, until at last he lost his temper and stabbed his sister with a Damascene dagger, killing her instantly.

Filled with sorrow and remorse for his deed, Guillermo made the pilgrimage to Santiago as penance, and he eventually took his sister’s place in religious life, becoming a hermit in the hermitage of Our Lady of Arnotegui in Obanos.

He lived there in meditation and caring for pilgrims until his death. According to popular tradition, Guillermo was killed for the faith on the road leading to Arnotegui, joining his sister in martyrdom.

Several of Saint Guillermo’s bones are preserved in Obanos. Among them is his skull, encased in silver.

Date: 03 April 2016
Place: Obanos (Navarra, Spain)

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