Esclavitud

Camino Portugués · Camino Portugués de la Costa

A Coruña · La CoruñaGalicia

Here Camino Portugués and Camino Portugués de la Costa converge. It is one of the points where the pilgrim shares the way with those arriving by another route.

From the Castilian esclavitud 'condition of slave', an 18th-century Marian dedication: the Virgen de la Esclavitud —⁠'enslaved by love of humanity'⁠—⁠. The Baroque sanctuary that rose around a miracle gave its name to the hamlet that grew at its foot.

A young toponym —⁠one of the few on the Camino Portugués with absolute dating⁠—⁠. In 1732, an ill pilgrim travelling to Santiago prostrated himself before a Marian image raised beside a spring, offering himself as 'slave' to the Virgin in exchange for healing; he was cured at once and, according to tradition, left the votive chains still preserved in the sanctuary. The devotion took hold: a Baroque temple was built (1709⁠—⁠1791) around the site of the miracle, and the hamlet that grew in its shadow took the Castilian name Esclavitud. It is one of the most expressive hagionymic toponyms of the Camino —⁠not 'Saint X' or 'Saint Y', but an abstract concept: total surrender as voluntary slavery⁠—⁠.

Evolution of the name

  1. (advocación mariana) Castilian 18th century
  2. Esclavitud Castilian / Galician from the 18th century

Reflections, to the letter

The Sanctuary of Our Lady of Esclavitud, Compostelan Baroque of the 18th century, preserves the votive chains of the pilgrim healed in 1732 and a gilded altarpiece with the original image. The spring that began the miracle still flows on the temple's façade: pilgrims drink from it before the last day to Santiago. Esclavitud is one of the youngest toponyms of the Camino, and also one of the most charged with concrete devotion.

Languages of origin

Themes

Origin status

confirmed

Sources

  • López Ferreiro, A. — Historia de la Santa A.M. Iglesia de Santiago de Compostela (1898⁠—⁠1909)
  • González Bueno, F. — Santuarios marianos de Galicia (Vigo, 1995)

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Camino Portugués

  1. Santiago de Compostela
  2. Teo
  3. Esclavitud
  4. Pontecesures
  5. Padrón
  6. Caldas de Reis
  7. San Amaro
  8. Pontevedra
  9. Arcade
  10. ··· toward the start