Church of San Juan the Villafáfila

It was located to the south of Villafáfila, on the outside, but close to the wall that gave its name to one of its doors, this church gives its name to the place where it was built, the Plaza de San Juan.

The Holder of the same was without a doubt San Juan; but as in all parish books we find it without adjectives; doubt may arise whether he was the Baptist or St. John, the Apostle. It can be confirmed, without fear of being wrong, that it is Saint John the Baptist; because we have an image of Saint John and this is of Saint John the Baptist as denoted by its symbology (the lamb), bare feet, totally naked right arm, revealing, under the mantle, part of the tunic, very abundant hair and beard, etc. details that totally fit into the traditional way of representing the Baptist. Now, if we take into account that in none of the other parishes is any image of Saint John inventoried, or even alluded to, we will conclude that it cannot be other than that of the titleholder of Saint John.

And here one cannot but record an anecdote related to this image. On the morning of Good Friday, the procession of the “Encuentro” takes place, in which, among others, that of San Juan parades. What man from Villafáfila, passing from childhood to adolescence, did not take his first steps in the week, carrying San Juan that morning and, when there was a sermon, waiting in the square with emotion for the preacher to pronounce the ritual phrase “Run , Juan to see Maria”, and immediately run away, to carry out the meeting and then execute the "reverence However, of that John of such pleasant memories of adolescence, and here is the anecdote John the Baptist (his image) has supplanted, in this procession, the other John, the Apostle, who was the one who accompanied Mary on that morning of the first Good Friday.

In 1228 the local administrative center of the revenues of Astorga in Villafáfila is the church of San Juan:

“In Villa fafila et in Lampreana, ecclesiam Sancti Ioanis cum pertinenciis suis et vineas et hereditatem et pertinent tercias ad cellarium episcopi” [2] .

In 1310, the Chapter of the Cathedral of Astorga and Bishop Don Alfonso signed a contract with the Infante Don Juan, in which, in exchange for certain concessions from the Infante, they gave him for the days of his life:

"ours Cillero de Villafáfila with all those of our rights that belong to our Messa" ...

Apart from these assets of the episcopal table, the council and the archdeacon of Páramo, where the archpriesthood of Villafáfila was integrated, owned assets such as the church of San Juan, which is not mentioned in the list of the episcopal table because its income belonged to the archdeacon.

We know that two of them collapsed in 1732 on the roof of the San Juan hospital:

“30 reais for the repair of the hospital of San Juan for having sunk there two bells of the said church” [3] .

They were replaced in the tower, although the parish was suppressed at the end of that century, because in 1795 the administrator of the Royal Saltpeter Factory that was built in the town says that:

“The Bishop of Astorga had ordered the demolition of a church (that of San Juan), whose tower and walls are made of good stone, and they have assured me that they would sell very cheaply...” ,

reason why it requests its purchase for the enlargement of the factories. And he proposes a new use for the bells, melting them down to make metal cauldrons:

The bishop's response to the purchase proposal is that he has to think better of it because it has been a sacred place and a cemetery for the dead, before deciding the destination that will be given to it.

When the church of San Juan disappeared, it passed to San Martín, and then when it disappeared, it is to Santa María del Moral, preserved in the Parish Museum.

We have documentary reference of San Juan without any specification. We believe that it refers to the image of Saint John the Baptist because it is the only one that it possesses and because of the concordance with its symbology. However, it is confused with the image of San Juan Apóstol in the processional parade on Good Friday, as indicated in the Encuentro en Semana Santa.

Since 1831, Saint John has been auctioned together with Jesús Nazareno and Ntra. Señora María and the trumpet, so it is to be assumed that since then the Encounter ceremony will be held, from Good Friday morning. and that year they are worth less: Jesus 72 R., The Virgin 33 R, St. John 9 R, the trumpet 9 R, and the crosses to ask for 7 reales.

When the church of San Juan disappeared, it passed to the church of San Martín, after which it disappeared, to the church of Santa María del Moral.

It represents the ascent of the souls from purgatory to heaven, after having purged their sins.

According to the Survey of all the assets of the parish, carried out in 1763 by the Notary and son of the Villa of Manuel de Vitacarros Torre, the rectory or Curato had eight lands, whose capacity was 27 fanegas, plus a vineyard of a fourth and thirty sticks (p. 17-19). And the parish had 17 lands with a total capacity of 59 fanegas (p., 20-24).

They were received in this parish in the following proportion: lamb grains: 1/3 for the priest, 1/3 for the Archdeacon of the Páramo, and 1/3 for the Convent of San Marcos de León. Chickpeas, wine and wool 2/3 for the priest and 1/3 for the Archdeacon of the Páramo. The parish priest received in total, some years with others, according to the cadastre of the Marquis of Ensenada, of 1751, 4 loads and 4 ochavas of wheat, 12 carcas of barley, 3 of rye, 3 bushels of chick peas, 11 jars of wine, 1 lamb and 1/2, 1 arroba of wool.

That in all the parishes they constituted 1 ochava reaching 9 of harvest, and that it belonged, not to the priests but to the Factories of the Churches, amounted to the following quantities: 2 bushels of wheat, 6 of barley and 4 of rye.

Tithes were also received for the Yermos (little productive land) in the following proportion: 1/3 the Bishop, 1/3 San Marcos, 1 the parish priests and 1/6 the beneficiary of Yermos, who in that year was D. José Fishery of Valladolid.

The first account book of the same dates from the year 1672, although its foundation is much earlier, without being able to specify the exact date. Once this parish was suppressed, it passed to that of San Martín, and, once the latter was suppressed, to that of Santa María. The current Brotherhood of Souls is, then, that of San Juan. Not only the parishioners of San Juan, but also those of other parishes belonged to it as brothers, since there was no other Brotherhood of Souls in the Villa. Regarding the days of souls there is a mandate of the Visitation of 1775, by which it is ordered:

“That on the days of animas the bells are not rung until 10 at night and not from dusk to dusk, as it is done” [4] .

Founded by Archpriest Diego de Robles in 1546, the first chaplain being Hernando de Robles, servant of the Founder. He was patronage of the Robles family. His foundational assets consisted of 26 lands (69 fanegas in total), and one was a quarter. And he had the burden of saying a weekly mass (52 a year) and a sung mass on the day of the party, all of which had to be celebrated on his altar.

It was founded by Catalina de Velasco in the 12th century, whose patrons alternately were Jacinto Velasco and his successors, and Antonio Velasco Salves and his successors. She had these assets: 49 lands, with a total capacity of 127 fanegas; 7 vines, with 6 and 1/2 fanegas; 3 censuses, of 100 reales of principal and 33 reales, per year, 1 house and 1 cave. All of them rented 10 loads of bread a year. (Marquis of Ensenada). He had as a burden to say a weekly mass (52 a year) and one sung on the day of the feast [5] .

Nothing less than 15 were the anniversaries in this parish, whose burdens generally consisted of applying a number of annual masses, a number that ranged between one and twenty, according to the income that each anniversary produced. One of them was charged to light the lamp of the Blessed Christ, and another, called "Las Beatas", to pay an ochava of wheat, four candles and a jug of wine on August 6, the feast of the transfiguration [6] .

In the account book for the years 1730-1770, of this Pious Memory and on p. 1 et seq. We have the copy of the Will that D. Hernán Fernández de Robles, Cura de San Juan and Archpriest of Villafáfila, made on July 3, 1523, by which he founded this Pious Memory. For which Send:

2nd That in this church a daily mass and response must be said for his soul "forever and ever."

"All the round term of San Fagúndez as I have and the term of the Monastery of La Vega, I exclude the land that is in the term of Otero, where they say Sancti Uste; another, of three charges, another, of two charges; another , of one load; another of two and a half loads of barley" .

According to the Survey of San Juan so many times already mentioned, the assets of this Foundation constituted 18 lands, with a total capacity of 430 bushels, of which 70 were 1st, 104, 2nd, 80 barren; and the rest of 3rd. Although generally, the lands of the foundations were of little space, this is not the case in this one, since there is one of 23 fanegas, another of 30, another of 88; and another of 247.

5º That these goods be administered by the parish priest and good men and farmers of San Juan. Indeed, every year on the day of the Transfiguration (August 6) a mayordomo and two chaplains were appointed to say the masses. On that day a function will be held and refreshments will be given to the religious. In the year 1738 they rented 12 loads and 6 quarters of wheat, and 12 loads of barley, which were collected in the panera de la Pía Memoria.

"I want, and it is my will, that the Pope, the Archbishop, the Bishop, the Prelate, or any other person, cleric or layman, do not understand in the said administration of the said goods and estates, and depose and remove a cleric or clerics who say the said masses and in the governance of all of it, but only the skilled priests and parishioners and parishioners of the said church” .

Within the jurisdiction of San Juan there was a hospital, named after San Juan or Divino Pastor. The first news that we have of the existence of this hospital, so called because it is located in the parish of San Juan, in the vicinity of the church, is from 1541, when in the register the neighbors mention: “ La Toria poor, espitalera of the hospital of San Juan ”. Although its existence must be earlier, since I have already pointed out that in 1538 there were already other hospitals in the town apart from the one called San Pedro.

It was adjacent to the church, with which it communicated with the part near the tower tribune of the same: details that we find in the parish books: In the visit of the year 1730:

“Your Grace visited the hospital of San Juan, which is adjacent to this church” [7] and “on October 28, 1643, a poor man named Juan Martín, a native of Viana del Bollo, died in the Hospital, burying himself next to the door. hospital near the grandstand” [8] .

It was suppressed as a parish in the year 1775. Although we have not found any decree of suppression, this can be deduced from the baptismal book, 1762-1784, p. 21 row., in which the baptizer is titled, for the first time, "parish priest of San Martín and San Juan". Henceforth, all items (baptism, married, and marriage) will bear that heading. Its last parish priest was D. Benito Alonso, who would go on to govern that of San Martín, vacant then and to which that of San Juan had been alienated.

It was demolished before 1807, since the first reference we have in this regard is found in the accounts presented that year by the Mayordomo of San Martín, Blas Tejedor. In them the following game of cats is noted:

“Iden. It is tada one hundred and sixty reais to surround the church of San Juan, remove the stone and brick and take it to the panera de la Pía Memoria” [9] .

But the demolition must not have been total, since in 1814 some arches and the tower were still standing, at least in part [10] . Some of this stone was sold to the parish of El Salvador [11] .

Villafáfila: History and current events of a Castilian Leonese village and its parish churches. 1996. p. 415-420.

Zamora: Institute of Zamoran Studies "Florián de Ocampo", 2000. ISBN 84-86873-87-8.

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[1] San Juan in 1165 (Serrano, 1927: doc.59).

[2] ADA Episcopal Chamber, perg. 2/40. Published by Cabero, 1989: 45.

[3] Book. fab of San Martin in 1732.

[4] Book. fab San Martin, 1746-1807, p. 81 round

[5] Book. fab Saint John, 1728-1750, p. 74 round and 75.

[6] Book. Anniversaries, p. 1 et seq.

[7] Book. fab Saint John, 1726-1750, p. 32 round

[8] Book. of the Dead, 1598-1774, p. 293 round

[9] Book. fab San Martin, 1808-1896, p. 8.

[10] Book. fab San Martin, 1808-1896, p. 29 round

[11] Book. fab San Martin, 1808-1896, p. 95 round