Franqueira

The old Santa María da Franqueira monastery is situated southeast of the province of Pontevedra, in the town council of A Cañiza, Tui-Vigo dioceses. The monastic church is a live testimony of the Cistercian life in this small village, the surrounding cluster of houses illustrates, even today the structure of centuries of history.  

Its origin goes back to the Suevo Reign in Galicia in the VI Century in which the hermit monks inhabited these mountains. The devotion to the Virgen de la Fuente is due to a verbal tradition of the tale in how it was narrated, for fear of the Saracen invasion and is hidden in the mountain, its image in stone. Over the years, an old lady, due to a flash of light discovers it. It is taken down to the village in a farming cart where a hermit is built.  

The first document of the monastery is dated in 1056 recording some monetary donations for the monks that lived in it. Inhabited by the Benedictine community up until 1293 when the Cistercian order is incorporated. It never grew in the number of monks, but did in its influence over the community, spiritual as well as economic. In 1835 it is dismantled, the monks are expelled and the properties, except for the church are auctioned off. Two feasts are celebrated in honor of the Virgin, Pentecost and the birth of the Virgin. The image has been Crowned Canonically and proclamed Mayor of 3 town councils, as well as its sanctuary linked with the Basilica of Santa María la Mayor of Rome, and on occasions the Jubilee Temple. The building conserves a great deal of the Cistercian elements, structure and decoration, arks, capitals, windows, baldachins and especially the entrance. It was built in 1343 and has in its tympanum the scene of adoration of the Wise Men. The stone image of the Virgin is a beautiful example of the late Roman period.