Momboisse Family Adventures April 2025: Potes, Spain and Santo Toribio de Liebana Monastery

Saturday April 5, 2025 (afternoon) 

Santo Toribio de Liebana Monastery (Spain)

Our group leaves Garabandal around noon for Potes, Spain.  We will be stopping here for lunch before heading to the Santo Toribio de Liebana Monastery for Mass.  

As we drive, we skirt the outside of the Picos National Park, taking in the beauty of its grandeur from our bus windows.  The park takes its name from the picos or spike rock formations of the park.  It is also home to the brown bear and Iberian wolf.  Neither of which we would see from our bus.  But I am sure they are out there.  

         

We arrive in Potes, Spain at 1:30 for lunch.  This medieval town is known as being the gateway to the Picos National Park.  A short walk from the bus parking area takes us to numerous options for lunch. 

   

     

We enjoy lunch at the Casa Guela overlooking the Quiviesa River a tributary of the Deva that flows from the Picos de Europa.  Though the clouds appear dark and menacing, only a few drops of rain fall on our outdoor lunch. 

After lunch we have a short time to explore this charming town of Potes, Spain before hopping back on the bus for a 10 minute drive to the Santo Toribio de Liebana Monastery. 

Santo Toribio de Liebana (Wikipedia Commons License) 

The monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana was founded around the 6^th century.  In the 8^th century the relic of the Lignum Crucis (The True Cross)  was brought to this monastery to keep it safe from the Muslims.   The reliquary, in the shape of a cross, contains the largest piece of the True Cross which was brought here by Saint Toribio from the Sanctuary of the Holy Sepulcher in Jerusalem where it was discovered by Saint Helena mother of Constantine the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity in 312. According to Christian tradition, the True Cross is the cross on which Jesus was crucified. 

Construction on the gothic style church we visit today began in 1256.  It has been remodeled several times since the 1200's.  The picture below is of the main altar.  

Also significate to this church are the Beatos.  During the 8^th century a monk named Beatus came to live in the monastery.  He created a series of manuscripts known as Beatos which are commentaries as well as colorful illustrations on the book of the Apocalypse (Revelation) written by Saint John. 

The monastery of Santo Toribio de Liebana was closed in 1836 when Spain decreed the Law of Disentailment whereby monastic properties could be sold as a source of income to pay off the government financial debt.  The monastery was finally restored in 1957 and presently is run by a the Franciscans.

Our Mass today celebrated by Fr. Thom will be in the Lignum Crucis chapel (chapel of the Holy Cross). 

Fellow pilgrim Steve proclaims the
reading from the Book of Wisdom Chapter 4

                                                 Reliquary of the Holy Cross behind the altar in the Lignum Crucis Chapel

The Lignum Crucis chapel dates from to the 18th century. Above is the altar piece and reliquary of the Holy Cross. After Mass Fr. Thom presents the relic to us for veneration.  The relic is a large part of the left arm of the Holy Cross. It includes the hole where Christ’s hand was nailed.     

Scientific tests carried out on this relic took place in 1958.  It was determined that the wood is a variety of cypress native to Palestine and over 2,000 years old.           

After Mass we leave Santo Toribio around 6pm to travel back to Santillana del Mar.  Each afternoon our group carves out a time to pray the Rosary together.  After the Rosary, the bus becomes quiet, eye lids become heavy as we are all lulled to sleep by the motion of the bus. Out the window, the beauty of Picos National Park pass by.  Before we know it we have arrived back at the Casona de Los Caballeros Hotel.  Just a few minutes to freshen up before boarding our bus for a five minute ride for an 8:30 dinner at the Bridge Tavern. 

                

Next Loyola, Spain 

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Interested in being your own tour guide? I have over 20 published GPS audio tours with VoiceMap (Carmel, Monterey, California Gold Country, Folsom, Tahoe, Sacramento) and over 40 tours published with GPSmyCity (Carmel, Monterey, Big Sur, Folsom, Sacramento, Boston, Cinque Terre, Kotor Montenegro, Copenhagen, St. Petersburg, Helsinki,  Stockholm, Estonia). Happy Adventures! 

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All photos and videos by L.A. Momboisse unless otherwise noted