29 November 2007
Global Seminars & Invited Speaker Series
A CONTEXT FOR AN IMAGE
The cult of Saint Michael in Oteiza and Navarre
D. Roldán Jimeno Aranguren.
Public University of Navarra
The national, regional and local cults of the Archangel Michael have been the subject of different programs of study throughout Europe, an unmistakable sample of their importance, durability and cultural revitalization over time. St. Michael, protector of the Hebrew people in the Old Testament, had a cult in Asia Minor since the 3rd century. From there he passed to south-central Italy, where he had a church from the first years of the 5th century. In the middle of that century, another basilica was erected on the Via Salaria in Rome, and from then on, Michael's temples were spread throughout southern Italy. The appearance of the Archangel on the cima of Mount Gargano (492) was followed by the erection of the sanctuary, an outstanding center of pilgrimages due to the thaumaturgical properties of the water that flowed there, from where his fame and devotion spread prodigiously. In France churches were dedicated to him since the 6th century, although his great impulse was produced as a result of the appearance of the archangel to the bishop of Avranches, Saint Aubert, founder of Mont-Saint-Michel (710). In the Peninsula we hardly possess testimonies prior to the year 711, so we would find ourselves before an eminently local cult. On the other hand, A. Fábrega points out that the story of the appearance of the Gargano mountain was not introduced in the Peninsula until the second half of the X century, which fills with questions the origin of the Hispanic cult. In the north of the peninsula, relics and monasteries dedicated to the Archangel are not found until the 8th century. It is precisely in this century when we must place the establishment of the cult in Navarre, showing at the same time the zenith in the Christianization of the territory.
The conquest of the Muslims coincided with the great expansion of the cult of St. Michael, who as prince of the heavenly militia took on a special significance in the later business of the reconquest of the X century. It seems that the San Miguel de Oteiza de la Solana should be located here.
The town had two parishes, one dedicated to San Miguel and the other to San Salvador, until they were unified in 1736 because the latter, located in the upper part of the town, threatened ruin. The church of San Salvador is documented from 1074, when Sancho el de Peñalén donated it to Irache. For its part, on the site of the primitive church of San Miguel, a new building was erected in the 16th century, later remodelled at the beginning of the 18th century.
The ascription of Oteiza to the primordial or old Navarre is doubtful. The dedications of San Miguel and San Salvador do not seem to fit in very well with this Christian area controlled by the Pamplona authorities. Its isolated status to the south of Mount Eskinza seems to place it in the New Lands, to which it was directly linked by the road leading to Andelos. However, the surrounding foothills that isolate it from the surrounding area and its position parallel to the Christian towns on the western slopes of Montejurra make it advisable to treat it as part of the core sector of Pamplona's territory.
The role of the archangel in the reconquest has been masterfully highlighted by E. Moreu and F. Marsá in Catalonia. In the primordial Navarre, the San Migueles related to the reconquest are the holders of the chapels of the castles erected in the framework the defensive system arisen in the kingdom as a result of the fight against the infidel, being known the examples of Huarte-Pamplona, Monreal, Burgui and San Martín de Unx. To these obvious examples, in Tierra Estella we must add the probable case of the chapel of the castle of Oro. The high issue of early medieval temples dedicated to the archangel in the lands of Degio and Berrueza could have its origin in the VIII century, although it is not possible to rule out that they flourished from the reconquering impulse of the X century, as it seems to be the one in Oteiza. This impression is corroborated by the patron saint of the second early medieval temple: San Salvador, a cult introduced into the Pamplona kingdom mainly from the 11th century, and to which different chapels of castles erected against the Muslim power were dedicated, as was the case with San Miguel. However, the choice of the title of San Salvador de Oteiza may also have been influenced by the Jacobean branch that ran through our territory. San Salvador appears linked on numerous occasions to different routes of the Way of St. James. This Jacobean peculiarity must be related to the Christological sense of the great pilgrimages (Santiago, Rome, Jerusalem). The promotion of the cult of St. James underlined the close unity of the apostle with Christ.