ROCK-HEWN CHAPEL IN THE MONASTERY OF SAN PEDRO DE ROCAS, ORENSE
VESTIBULE OF THE ROCK CHAPELS OF SAN PEDRO DE ROCAS, ORENSE
the crest of which a bell is seen suspended. History does not say by whose hands this strange edifice was carved, but it is thought to be the work of anchorites who, like San Fructuoso, sought in this solitary spot a retreat and a refuge.
The entrance to each of the three cave chapels is formed by a semicircular arch, and above these, like a natural façade, rises the top of the apparently inaccessible precipice. Two low openings connect the three chapels with one another. The arches and the interior are decorated with simple twelfth-century mouldings and sculpture; the arcades are also Romanesque of the same period. The rock above forms a kind of rude barrel vaulting, and a round hole bored in the centre of the barrel lets light into the church from the top of the cliff. The flooring consists of large rough granite slabs. In this church there are two objects that are of great interest to archæologists: one is a stone, two and a half feet long and one and a half feet wide, on which is carved the date “Era 611” (A.D. 573), and with what are supposed to be the names of six hermits who retired to this lonely and wild spot that they might end their days in prayer and meditation. Señor Vazquez Nuñez speaks of this inscription as “without a doubt the most important epigraphic monument of Christianity in the province of Orense,” and he laments the fact that it should lie there year after year neglected and exposed to destruction. One corner of the stone has already been smashed off by visitors to the place; and not so long ago some one trying to move it chipped off a bit of the inscription. Six of the most famous archæologists of Spain have at different times gone to see this stone and copied the inscription, about which there has been much learned discussion. In the midst of the inscription is sculptured a Greek cross, while round it, like a frame, and running horizontally across between the lines, is a funicular fillet.
The other object of special interest is in the back of the cave behind the altar in the lateral chapel to the left. To get to it we had to crawl on hands and knees through a small opening between the altar and the wall. It is a small Roman ara with no inscription, but sculptured in an interesting manner with archaic arches and funicular ornamentation. There is also in the church an ancient baptismal font. In side niches are two stone sarcophagi with recumbent figures: the relief above one of them represents the dead man’s soul being borne to heaven in a cloth by his guardian angel. I noticed that both the recumbent statues appeared to have their feet chained to the rock; the hands of one of them were folded on his breast, the other had his hands folded lower down. Their drapery consisted of a light-fitting garment beneath a cloak, which fastened with a brooch over one shoulder; both had beards and longish hair which curled down over the neck. These were probably two twelfth-century friars of the monastery. Outside the church we found several ledges of rock that must have been cut as resting-places for sarcophagi, and also a number of flat tombstones.
The church, as we have seen, is cut in the rocky side of a precipice. Below the ledge which serves as a path in front of the three entrances, the rocks form a hollow like an extinct crater, whose sides are so steep that it makes one giddy to look down. The monastery has disappeared all but a few ruins, some rooms of which served for some years as a home for the parish priest. No one lives there now, as it is too isolated a spot; and the last priest who attempted to live there was set upon by robbers and nearly killed (about seven years ago). The spot is indeed isolated, for the eye travels thence over many miles of country without being able to discern any trace of human life. This is quite different from the situation of Osera, and bears absolutely no resemblance to that of San Estevan; yet all three are in the same little province of Orense, in the very heart of Galicia.