A printed Compostela from the year 1529 was found in Arenys de Mar.
In the documentary holdings of the former Batllia of Arenys, preserved in the Fidel Fita Historical Archive in Arenys de Mar (Barcelona), there is a 13.8 x 5.0 centimeter parchment fragment that is a Compostela, or certificate of having completed the pilgrimage to Sant Jaume in Galicia. It is printed in the Gothic script of its time on the upper portion and handwritten on the lower portion. On the reverse, or dark side of the parchment, it retains the trace of a seal, now lost, made of green wax.
The distinctive feature of this Compostela is that it is a printed document, leaving blank spaces for recording the pilgrim’s details and the date. It is the oldest printed Compostela found to date in Catalonia.
Dated 1529, it was granted to Pere Picas, a farmer from the parish of Sant Martí de Arenys. Months earlier, due to a drought, this parish decided to send a pilgrim to Sant Jaume de Galicia—as Santiago de Compostela was known in the documents of the time.
Pere Picas was chosen, and upon arriving at the Cathedral of Santiago, he was issued this interesting document. He was the son of Joan Pica, owner of the farmhouse of the same name located in the parish. The farmhouse is still in operation today, and its descendants and current owners have preserved the name of the pilgrim from 500 years ago.
Copied verbatim, this Compostela reads as follows:
“Universis Chr(ist)i fidelib(us) p(re)sentes litters inspecturis. Cardinales Thesaurari ecclesie sanctissimi Iacobi Zebedei ap(osto)li de Co(m)postella in Gallecia.
Salute(m) in D(omi)no qui est omniu(m) vera Salus.
Noveritis: Petrum Pica peregrinu(m) presentiu(m) latore(m), causa peregrinatio(n)is faciende pro parrochianis S(an)c(t)i Martini d(e) Arenys, ecclesie p(re)dicti ap(os)toli limina visitase, in cuius rei testimoniu(m) p(re)sentes litters sibi dècim(us), sigillo altaris ipsius apostoli in dorso mu(n)imine sealed.
Datis Co(m)postelle, anno D(omi)ni millesimo quingentesimo .xxix. die vero .X. me(n)sis ap(r)ilis in anno iubiley. Qui obtulit decent regalia et dimidi(a) pro viginti et una missis dicendis.”
Translated into English, it reads: “The Cardinal Treasurers of the Church of the Most Holy Saint James the Apostle of Zebedee in Compostela, Galicia, to all the faithful of Christ who see these letters: Greetings in the Lord, to whom belongs the true health of all. Know that the pilgrim Pere Pica, bearer of these letters, by reason of the pilgrimage he is making for the parishioners of Sant Martí de Arenys, has visited the church of the aforementioned apostle.
In witness whereof, we deliver these letters, sealed on the back with the guarantee of the seal of the altar of the same apostle.”
Given in Compostela on the 10th day of April in the year of our Lord 1529, in the Jubilee year. Pere Pica has made an offering of 10 and a half reales so that 21 masses may be said.”
In the 106-year period from 1457 to 1563, we find documented 21 pilgrimages delegated to Compostela from Catalonia to request some benefit from the Apostle James for the community. The most frequent request was for relief from plague epidemics, and on some other occasions—as in this case—for relief from drought and its consequences.
Documentary evidence of this type of pilgrimage exists in at least ten different towns: Arenys de Mar, Barcelona, Cervera, Girona, Gurb de la Plana, Manresa, Mataró, Perpignan, Tàrrega, and Vic. Sometimes, the pilgrims were hired for this purpose.