A SPIRITUAL LIGHT PILLAR IN ZARAGOZA

-text and photos Andrei Dorian Gheorghe
design Florin Alexandru Stancu-

After I missed the brightness of Venus
(it was too late, the light of the day had already installed
and I could catch only a tiny white point),
I started from Madrid to Zaragoza
on a road with a promising Sun.

I saw superb landscapes,
helped by the generous evolution of the sky
(including showers of sunbeams),
until I arrived in the northern Spanish city.

Zaragoza (about 670,000 inhabitants, today)
was founded by Romans on an Iberian settlement near the Ebro River,
and became the capital of a Moorish taifa (11th-12th centuries),
and of the former Kingdom of Aragon (since 1118 until the Spanish unions).

My target here was to see the Basilica of Our Lady of the Pillar,
the first church in the world dedicated to Saint Mary.

In fact, the story is much longer.

In that place, Saint Mary appeared in front of Apostle James in 40 AD,
giving him a pillar of jasper.

In the honor of that moment, Saint James made a chapel,
which was replaced in time by other churches
to perpetuate the memory of the event.

The current basilica was built in between 1681 and 1872
and represents a marvelous radiant of spirituality
open to all the Christian souls.

A so bright radiant
that I didn’t remark that the weather became cloudy.

In Zaragoza I hoped to see
A sun pillar as something natural,
But I found out just that
The local light pillar was spiritual.

Although sometimes the Sun doesn’t look fine,
We always need something divine.