Monastery of Saint Pelagius of Antealtares


The Monastery of Saint Pelagius of Antealtares is a monastery in Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain.
WWW monasteriosanpelayo.org

Background

The monastery was founded in the 11th century by Alfonso II of Asturias as a Benedictine monastery originally staffed by twelve monks. It was initially aimed to look after and render worship to the newly discovered tomb of the Apostle James, which brought a pilgrimage status to the city.
Once the Benedictine monks left the monastery in 1499, it was occupied by cloistered nuns and dedicated to Pelagius of Córdoba, a 10th-century Galician child captured, martyred by order of the Caliph Abd-ar-Rahman III of al-Andalus after his refusal to renounce of his Christian faith. The present-day construction is almost entirely from the 17th and 18th centuries.