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LOOKING BACK
- Visitors from Near and Far – 19th to 21st September – by Clare Allcard
Pray! Pray! Pray it doesn't rain! And the good Lord shone down on us as we picnicked up by the 'Totem Poles', hugging old friends from Toulouse/Cahors and welcoming new ones - not to mention the 5 gorgeous, friendly dogs - all with us for the weekend. To crown it all He sent two circling eagles to watch over us and to cruise the near by thermals.
The afternoon offered a walk with Valerie up the picturesque Rabassa valley accompanied by hounds of all shapes and sizes or, alternatively, the chance to bask in the relaxing thermal waters of Caldea's cathedral-like spa accompanied by Jo.
After that everyone was ready for the potluck supper. With Home and Away teams well mixed, the evening was full of warmth and laughter. 'Entertainment' provided by Brenda and a sprinkling of Singers plus great assistance from our musical guests, was accompanied by the wonderful Robert Bailey, and ended with everyone joining in a sing-along during which Michael introduced us to a gesticular version of Swing Low.
Saturday saw an early start as we set off on a guided tour of Seu d'Urgell, the medieval cathedral town 10kms across the Spanish border, which is the seat of one of Andorra's two Co-Princes, the Bishop Joan-Enric Vives of Urgell.
Jo Hine takes over the story
With Sue Gresham as our excellent guide, we reached the Cathedral of La Seu and watched a short film in English about The Beatus of La Seu d'Urgell. This was written and illustrated one thousand years ago and is based on the Book of Revelation and the Book of Daniel describing the conflicts between good and evil. It is hard for us to imagine the anonymous miniaturists at that time, writing and painting the icons in a monastery, by candle light.
After our tour of the Cathedral, the cloisters, and the museum, we had coffee at the Parador of La Seu (originally a convent) and then continued a guided walk around the town. It was very difficult not to get diverted because it was also market day and the temptations were great. After walking in the Olympic Park, our bus took us all to Os de Civis for a typical Spanish barbequed lunch. A draw for the restaurant's raffle was an exciting moment because one of our friends' from Toulouse won a prize.
Three Andorran Churches – by Gillian Bickley
On 30 July, an enthusiastic group, twenty or so strong, was led by Anthea Buckler on a visit to three Andorran churches: Santa Eulalia, and Santa Romà de les Bons in Encamp, and Sant Joan de Caselles in Canillo. Santa Eulalia Church, which we visited first, has been beautifully restored. Unheralded by the outside stone, the jewelled colours cast by the bright sun through the stained glass windows into the interior were a joyful surprise. Small details were pointed out. A little pig in a richly gilt altar piece of saints. An artist whose signature shows that he eschewed the traditional modesty of painters of the sacred. In a private chapel, the name of a landowning family still prominent in Andorra.
For many of us, a peal of bells requires a bell tower and a team of bell-ringers, who turn out regularly to practise, adjourning afterwards to a nearby place of refreshment. In Santa Eulalia, a peal of bells is suspended on a circular frame, hanging on an inside wall, ready for a single hand to turn and make it ring out on special occasions, as was demonstrated to us there and then.
Outside the church is a "commendador", a small building from where, in the past, the parish priest could pray to God to stop a tempest or other bad weather. There is also a museum of church artefacts, quite astonishing in their number and richness. One female saint, Santa Lucia, holds her eyes on a plate. She was blinded, but to present her eyeless has been regarded as too crude and too disfiguring of a beautiful girl. So her face appears in all its beauty, and the fact of her blinding is memorialised instead by the outstretched plate with the same eyes offered there to our view.
The second church, Santa Romà de les Bons, was one of those Andorran churches whose builders seem to have taken the view that the higher and less accessible a church is, the better, perhaps because symbolically closer to God. Not all members of the group managed the steep path up to see the fine frescoes, or the church floor - the actual rock on which the church stands.
By the time we reached the third church, Sant Joan de Caselles, Canillo, this writer had absorbed almost all she could manage in a single morning. It was an ambitious schedule for a half day´s activity, but a good lunch at the restaurant of the Palau de Gel (skating rink) in Canillo, rounded off the excursion and restored us.
I must thank Anthea Buckler, who had not only done a lot of research to put together an interesting and authoritative narrative, but also made it possible for one of the churches to be opened for us. We were also very fortunate to have additional information not only from an enthusiastic church warden at Santa Eulalia, but from the Parish Priest, Mossèn Xavier.
from our newsletter, Michaelmas 2008
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 | In the Diocese in Europe: The English-Speaking Church of Andorra - St George's, Box 113 Credit Andorra, La Massana, Andorra |