Introduction

Saint Gregory of Ostia, who was Cardinal and Bishop of Ostia, died in Logroño on 9 May 1044, where he was preaching, sent by Pope John XVIII. After his death, legend has it that his body was miraculously transported by a donkey to the Piñalba hill, in the municipality of Sorlada, a Navarrese town on the border with Álava and La Rioja, where he was to be buried and where a church was to be dedicated to him. Saint Gregory was venerated as an advocate against the plagues of the countryside, thanks to which he was widely venerated throughout the past centuries. partner Although today it may seem to be a local sanctuary in Navarre, with hardly any devotional weight or importance, nevertheless this sanctuary was between the 16th and 18th centuries the most important religious centre in Navarre, as well as one of the most active in the whole of Spain, thanks to the protection that the Saint offered to the fields and crops in an eminently rural society. Many devotees from all over Spain sent emissaries to Sorlada to collect the holy water with which to irrigate the fields and thus rid them of plagues. There were also numerous requests for the ark with the relics of the Saint, as well as his reliquary bust, to travel around different parts of Spain.