Zaragoza

You'd think I was in Ireland here:

but no, Padre and I were quenching our powerful thirst at an Irish pub in Zaragoza, Spain (August, 2005). It turns out that Irish pubs travel well all over the world.

Zaragoza is an ancient place, once the capital of the former kingdom of Aragon. It was fortified by the Romans under Caesar Augustus (Imperator Caesar Divi Filius Augustus) after whom the city was named. Augustus was Emperor when Christ was born, and it was he who called for the census across the entire Roman world that obliged the Holy Family to travel from Nazareth to Bethlehem for the first Christmas.

Within the city is a basilica built on the spot where the Apostle James originally established a church during his missionary activities on the Iberian peninsula. One of the trophies in the basilica is a pair of diffused mortar shells that were fired into the church by the godless communists during the Spanish civil war: the two rounds of ordnance went through the roof and landed inside without detonating. As a testimony of the church's Providential deliverance from the assault, the Spanish never patched the holes in the roof, which you can still see today.

Zaragoza Basilica

The more famous pilgrimage spot in the basilica is a miraculous pillar. At one point during his difficult missionary work among the Spanish the Apostle James was tempted to despond. He prayed for fortitude, and was rewarded for his zeal with a pillar to indicate that he would be the source of much strength among the Christians in that still-pagan land. The pillar has been preserved, and today is much embellished by the devout Catholic Spanish. The pillar exudes a delicious aroma (I speak from experience), which is sited as a miraculous attribute of the relic. In honor of this gift from Heaven, many Spanish girls are baptized with the name Pilar, which refers to this pillar.

The Miraculous Pillar in the Church of
Nuestra Señor del Pilar