Saint Dominic de la Calzada, Priest - Died 1039

A "calzada" is a path or roadway. In the 11th century the saint restored a section of the ancient Roman road near his hermitage in the Rioja region of northern Spain, for the benefit of pilgrims traveling to Santiago de Compostela.  Because of this work a village grew up around the hermitage and took his name, Santo Domingo de la Calzada. By the 14th century the village had become an important town and a legend developed there regarding a miracle of the saint.

According to this legend, a 14th-century pilgrim family stopped in the town, and the young man of the family caught the eye of the innkeeper's daughter. Because he spurned her, she hid some silver in his pack and later had him arrested for theft and condemned to death by hanging.

But later the young man appeared to his parents in a dream and told them to come back to the town for him. He was still alive, he said in the dream, because while he was on the gallows St. Dominic de la Calzada had saved him by holding up his feet.

When the family returned to the town they went to the magistrate to ask for their son. Hearing their story during his dinner, he scoffed and said the young man was no more alive than the roast chickens on his table. At that, the chickens revived, grew their feathers back, and walked around. The parents joyously collected their son and continued their pilgrimage.

To this day, the church in the town keeps a live hen and rooster which are said to be descended from the chickens that were revived at that dinner.

St. Dominic de la Calzada's attributes include, naturally, a hen and a rooster. He also wears a monastic habit and carries prayer beads and a shepherd's crook, the saint having been a shepherd before he chose the religious life.

Feast day: May 12

At left, "Santo Domingo de la Calzada" - Burgos Cathedral.

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