Qualla: Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: Introduction

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dorieo, CC BY-SA 4.0. The largest swinging bell in the world hangs in a tower in Villarreal, an orange-growing town on the Castellón plain. It is part of a set of twelve, and together with a carillon of seventy-two more it accounts for over twenty-three tonnes of bronze suspended above the tomb of a barefoot friar named Paschal Baylón. He was a shepherd before he was a saint, and for four centuries he has drawn pilgrims - and Spanish kings - to this spot. What almost no visitor realizes is that the sanctuary they walk through is, in large part, a reconstruction.

Image: Dorieo | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: The Shepherd of Villarreal

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Millars, CC BY-SA 4.0. Paschal Baylón kept sheep before he took a habit, joining the Alcantarine friars, the barefoot reformed branch of the Franciscans. He was assigned to Villarreal (Vila-real in Valencian) in 1589 and lived there until his death in 1592. It was his presence - his life, death, and bu...

Image: Millars | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: A Jewel of Valencian Baroque

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Millars, CC BY-SA 4.0. The convent itself was born of a sea battle. Its founding chapel, dedicated to Our Lady of the Rosary, was raised in 1571 to give thanks for the Christian victory over the Ottoman fleet at Lepanto that October. A century later, a Royal Chapel went up to house the saint's remains,...

Image: Millars | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: Burned to Rubble

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Trewert, Public domain. On 13 August 1936, in the opening months of the Spanish Civil War, an armed group from outside the city desecrated the sanctuary and set it ablaze. The Baroque jewel was reduced to rubble; the artistic labour of centuries was lost in a day. What stands today is the answer the tow...

Image: Trewert | Public domain

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: Twenty-Three Tonnes of Bronze

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dorieo, CC BY-SA 3.0. The sanctuary's crowning marvel is its bells. Two towers carry a carillon of seventy-two bells, cast by the Dutch foundry Royal Eijsbouts and installed by a Belgian firm, alongside twelve great swinging bells from Paccard of Haute-Savoie - among them the largest swinging bell any...

Image: Dorieo | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sanctuary of St. Paschal Baylon: A Shrine of Kings

Mon, 20 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dorieo, CC BY-SA 3.0. For four centuries the sanctuary drew the powerful as well as the pious. The Habsburg kings came - Philip III and Philip IV among them - and so did the Bourbons who followed: Charles III, Charles IV, Ferdinand VII, Isabella II, Amadeo I, Alfonso XIII, a near-unbroken procession o...

Image: Dorieo | CC BY-SA 3.0