The Sanctuary of Cura de Randa in Majorca

The place is famous and celebrated for being the place where one of the most iconic characters of Majorca, writer, theologian and philosopher Ramon Llull, would have been in 1274, "enlightenment". Blessed Raymond Lully, one of the fathers of the Catalan language, then there was a hermit and retirement are designed some of his most famous books.

The Sanctuary of Cura is also a place of pilgrimage where the venerated image of the Virgin de Cura (Verge de Cura / Virgen de Cura) is the most important place of pilgrimage after the Majorca of Lluc.

The word "cura" means "healing" doctors of the past were, in fact, found that the atmosphere of the summit of the Mount was very friendly people sick of the respiratory system and the healing of rheumatism. In fact, this place is constantly swept by a breeze that dispels the miasma, even if mist are by no means rare.

According to some sources, there would have been during the Moorish occupation, the top of the Puig de Randa, a "Hisn", or castle, named Al’Uyun Qastil (the castle of sources). This castle was one of the Moorish castles that marked the territorial boundaries of the Muslim provinces, in this case, the border "juz of Muntuy.

The sanctuary is located 36 km east of the city of Palma, the highway Ma-19A then the road Ma-6020 to Llucmajor and Ma-5010 to Randa.

Since Randa, the small road 4 km (Carrer de Cura and Ma-5018) that winds up tight to the sanctuary of Cura, first passes through the sanctuary of Gracià and the hermitage of Sant Honorat. The sanctuary has a large car park at the gate. It is also possible to leave your vehicle in the village of Randa and walk up along the road or taking many shortcuts, the climb takes more than an hour of walking.

Geographical coordinates: 39° 31’ 37.3" N, 2° 55’ 35.3" E

Most of the buildings are simple and modern: they are the work of the Franciscan monks who arrived here in 1913 after the site had been abandoned for decades.

Above the gate is a crescent moon, representing the crest of the noble family Llull.

At the center of the pediment, on the crest of Llull, is the badge (damaged) the Franciscan Order of Penance: the cross and the two arms, with the initials OPC (meaning Ordo Penitentiae Claustralis, cloistered order of Penance), surmounted by a crown of thorns on a gold background, with, below, three nails on silver background, symbols of the Passion of Christ.

Above the lintel is the inscription: "amable fill, saluda Nostra Dona qui es salut e benedicció nostra" (Ramon Llull, Blanqu [Erna], chapter 61, paragraph 7) "beloved Son, welcomes Notre Dame which is our salvation and blessing. " The quote is from an utopian novel, "Llibre d’Evast e Blanquerna" written in Catalan by Llull in 1282.

On the lower part of the bow you see a patch with the initials JHS Jesus Savior of Men (Iesus hominum Salvator), emblem of the flag in his holy mission qu’arborait Bernard of Siena. Another inscription: "Omnia in nomine Dni. [Domini] Jesu Christi facite" (I Cor. 10) ("Let everything be done in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ").

To the left of the courtyard is the hostelry of the sanctuary.

Outside, the building is characterized by the presence, on the south side, three buttresses surmounted by a cross, and a built-in wall of the tower facade.

The narrow nave is covered by a barrel vault, abruptly truncated behind the choir without apse. The benches are inlaid and have the crests of the Franciscan Order of Penance, the shield of Ramon Llull and the monogram of the Ave Maria.

Before you pass the rectory a crucifix carved, dating from the seventeenth century, from the choir of the church of the former monastery of St. Dominic (Monestir de Sant Domènec) to Palma, destroyed in the nineteenth century. This cross was kept in the mansion Albenya until 1861 when Josep Morell i Esteva, owner of the estate, donated to the Sanctuary of Cura.

Ceramics gallery to the right of the chapel are reproductions of antique prints, installed in 1977, which represent the seven mysteries of the Rosary Franciscan (the Annunciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the Magi, Jesus in the Temple The Resurrection and the Coronation of the Virgin).

In the chapel daily Mass is celebrated at 8:00, 10:00 and 18:00, Sundays and holidays 9:00, 12:00 and 19:00.

The feast of St. Francis on October 4.

Above the stone portal, you can see a small stone statue of Ramon Llull, under which is a small patch of the mendicant order, with a cross and two arms.

Although the current building dates from the 1950s, the arrival of the Franciscans at Cura was in August 1913, when it was installed the novitiate of the Third Order Regular. In 1906, the Bishop of Mallorca, the Capuchin Pere Joan Campins, visited the dilapidated shrine company of Antoni Gaudi and Joan Rubio, with the intention of restoring it. The bishop told the Third Order Regular of St. Francis rehabilitation sanctuary to revive the Lullian tradition of the mountain of Randa.

At present four brothers of the Order live, and with the help of some staff and volunteers, administer the sanctuary.

At that time, education was based on the teachings of the seven liberal arts of antiquity which included the study of the "trivium" (grammar, rhetoric and logic) and "quadrivium" (arithmetic, geometry, music and astronomy). Was founded in 1483 in Palma the General Study Llull (Estudi General Lul·lia), the first University of Majorca, where were taught theology, the arts, philosophy, law and medicine.

The teaching of Llull University was in Latin, and it was necessary to found schools where Latin was taught grammar in 1502, was founded the Grammar School of Randa, who was the first of Mallorca. Once rebuilt the dependencies of the Lullian old school, was installed in 1510 in the old building, a grammar school, with an annual budget of 50 pounds, and it depended on the Rector and the conciliar School Lullian established to Estudi General de Palma. Teachers and students of the School of Randa endured many hardships, especially in winter due to harsh weather conditions. In addition, there was no tank and they had to fetch water Sant Honorat.

The importance taken by the School of Randa made the jurors of the Kingdom of Majorca, to facilitate and encourage the study of letters by the youth demanded the establishment of professorships and the establishment of a Room of General Studies where we teach grammar, rhetoric and Greek, it was given during the session on 4 May 1553. In 1554 work began to repair the chapel already in ruins, and then began the work of building classrooms and tanks. In 1566 the school had a hundred students, in 1588, between one hundred fifty and one hundred and sixty students.

In 1623, Canon Bartomeu Llull, the founder of the sapiencia (Wisdom), obtained a grant of 40 pounds for the restoration of the chapel and the construction of the magnificent "Living Grammar", which is the only part preserved until today. The coat of arms of the city, the keystone, is the most visible sign of the classroom in 1623.

The nineteenth century saw the decline of the School of Randa, because teaching changes implemented throughout Spain, January 25, 1826, the last teacher of Randa resigned and the school closed.

Room of grammar retain certain sacred religious objects and books related to the cult. There are also some books, printed or handwritten in relation Lullism, others of various themes, have a common denominator their relative antiquity and, for some, their rarity: a treatise on theology (Tratado de Teología) of Duns Scotus. The walls are hung with paintings, especially religious. Shelves contain different representations of Ramon Llull and a small collection of terracotta containers typical of Mallorca.

Two other small rooms contain a bric-a-brac picturesque agricultural implements, household or other, from various sources. Collection bottles "Randa Liqueur" made for very long in the sanctuary we note and a copy of a map of Mallorca valuable.

In his autobiography, probably written in Paris in 1311, the "Vida coetània" (Contemporary Life), Ramon Llull says that about ten years after his conversion (1263), he retired to a mountain. After a week, he received an "illumination" - he always thought of divine origin - it revealed the contents of a book and the method is expected to argue against the errors of the infidels. This illumination took the form of a shrub (Mata Escrita) whose leaves bore inscriptions in Arabic script, a language he knew to be studied during the previous nine years. In reality, it was probably the traces left by a stray leaf fungus, these traces have the appearance of oriental characters.

It is believed that the mountain in question was the Puig de Randa, because, since the conquest of Mallorca by King Jaume I in 1229, the mountain of Randa became a favorite place for hermits. The three sanctuaries Randa must also originate in many ancient hermitages. Near the top of Puig de Cura, we can still distinguish more than ten cavities in the rock and including bunks narrow and elongated shape, their depth does not exceed 1 or 2 meters. However, the most logical and the most documented is that Ramon Llull lived in the village of Randa, where his family owned several houses and land, and went up to the mountains to meditate.

Llull came down from the mountain of Randa and entered, as a layman, the Cistercian monastery of La Real (Monestir the Real) in Palma, where the monks taught him Latin, and where he wrote his book "Compendium of art find the truth "first in Arabic, then in Catalan (Art abreujada de trobar Veritat) and, finally, in Latin ("Ars compendiosa inveniendem veritatem"), the first version of his "Ars Magna".

Later, in 1275, Ramon Llull went up to the mountain of Randa, are not doing build a hermitage, which was later named Our Lady of Randa (Nostra Senyora Randa), and lived as a hermit for four months. The hermit in Llull constitute an ideal of perfection which will be a constant in his work. The cave was partially destroyed in the eighteenth century. Terminal and the image of Ramon Llull was placed there in 1933, but the image was brutally vandalized there a few years ago.

This episode of enlightenment was the foundation of Llull thought, art, which he believed gifted to know the precise mechanisms of conversion of infidels. He kept the nickname by which he is known as "Doctor Illuminatus".

Llull was born in Palma de Mallorca in 1232, Catalan parents shortly after the conquest of the island by the Catalans. As the future of St. Francis of Assisi, his youth was hectic and libertine up to the age of thirty. In 1263, he converted after having five times the vision of Christ crucified.

During the ten years that followed Llull devoted himself to his moral and theological training, and learned Arabic with the help of a Muslim slave he had bought.

In 1274, he had an "illumination" on Mount Randa which inspired many books. He then traveled in Europe and North Africa to convert Jews and Muslims.

Raymond Lully died at sea off Majorca, June 29, 1315 return from Tunis to his native island. His body rests in a chapel of the Franciscan Church of Palma.

Even if it has not been formally beatified, Ramon Llull is venerated as a Blessed and in Catalonia, as a saint.

All about Llull Centre de Documentació Ramon Llull University of Barcelona orbita.bib.ub.edu/ramon/

Pugem a Cura, l’alt santuari d’on la volada prengué Ramon. És el paratge a on solitari, fent penitència, fugi del món. Facem reviure pel centenari santes memòries que encara hi són. A Cura en vida contemplativa Llull se va veure transfigurat, rebé les armes i força activa per les grans lluites d’apostolat ; i, sensé estudis, a la llum viva quedà fet savi il.luminat. Oh puig de Randa, solar de Cura, d’on sant i savi Ramon sortí, noble peanya de tal figura, que te veneri tot mallorquí, i arreu escampi l’edat futura la llum excelsa brollada aquí !

Miquel Costa i Llobera Palma, 31 maig-4 juny 1915

Climb to Cura, upper sanctuary where the revelation takes Ramon. This is where, lonely, do penance and escape the world. Revived for the centennial sacred memories are still there. At Cura in contemplative life Lull is transfigured lives, received weapons and active force for the great battles of the apostolate and, without looking at the bright light that was illuminated wise. O Mount of Randa, instead of healing, where the saint and scholar Ramon came noble pedestal of such a character that is revered throughout Mallorca and diffuse the time to come the sublime and brilliant light here!

Miquel Costa i Llobera, Palma, May 31-June 4, 1915

For more serious visitors, there is also a small book on the shrines of the Mount of Randa: "La Muntanya dels tres Santuaris" by Gaspar Munar i Oliver.

Phone: 00 34 971 660 994

Entry fee: the Franciscan Order is a mendicant order, admission is free, but you must pay her mite in the museum.

Site on the Web: www.santuaridecura.com

Visitors and guests will find a coffee shop, convenient and not too expensive, in the northwest part of the sanctuary, under the arcades. The café has a terrace with a magnificent view of the west Majorca.

The reception from the hotel is on the left of the patio after the entrance of the sanctuary.

Price: € 60 double room, single room € 40 (including breakfast).

Phone: 00 34 971 120 260

Email: reservas@santuariodecura.com