Montserrat (mountain)

Montserrat or Monserrat , mountain, 4,054 ft (1,236 m) high, NE Spain, rising abruptly from a plain in Catalonia, NW of Barcelona. On a narrow terrace, more than halfway up its precipitous cliffs, is a celebrated Benedictine monastery, one of the greatest religious shrines of Spain. Only ruins are left of the old monastery (11th cent.). The present monastery was built in the 18th cent. and restored after being destroyed by French troops in 1812. It has a valuable painting collection, library, and museum. The Renaissance church (16th cent.; largely restored in the 19th and 20th cent.) contains the black wooden image of the Virgin which, according to tradition, was carved by St. Luke, brought to Spain by St. Peter, and hidden in a cave near Montserrat during the Moorish occupation. In the Middle Ages the mountain, also called Monsalvat, was thought to have been the site of the castle of the Holy Grail . At Montserrat, St. Ignatius of Loyola devoted himself to his religious vocation just before the founding of the Society of Jesus.

Montserrat. This mountain, near Barcelona, is surrounded by legends which locate there the Castle of the Holy Grail. The Benedictine monastery, whose church enshrines the famous image of ‘Our Lady of Montserrat’, was founded between 1025 and 1035. St Ignatius Loyola hung up his sword there. It is a place of pilgrimage.

Montserrat a mountain in the NW of Barcelona, known for an ancient wooden statue of the Virgin and Child, which had supposedly been carved by St Luke and brought to Spain by St Peter, and which was concealed in a cave there during the period of Moorish rule.