Luke Monastery

The monastery is located in the northern part of the island on the slopes of the Sierra de Tramontana mountain range, at an altitude of 525 meters above sea level. The designation Santuari translates as Shrine and means that the Luke Monastery is the spiritual center of the island. Unlike ordinary monasteries, it is also not ruled by a priest, but a priest, and monasticism no longer lives here. The monastery is venerated by the patron saint of Mallorca, Our Lady of Luke ( Mare de Déu de Lluc ) in the form of the “ Black Madonna ”, called by the locals sa Morenita (Black) . Luke is a place of pilgrimage for believers, as well as one of the main tourist destinations in Mallorca, which is visited annually by up to 1 million people.

On Christmas Eve in the Luke Monastery, the Els Blauets choir performs the traditional Sibylline Song , which, since 2010, has been included in UNESCO's list of masterpieces of the intangible culture of mankind. The Els Blauets Boys' Choir is the oldest in Mallorca and one of the oldest in the world (the name comes from the blue color of the cassocks in which they dress). The Antics Blauets Association unites all former pupils of the Luke Monastery.

Starting from 1974, on the night of the first Saturday of August, Marxa des Güell a Lluc a peu starts from the Balearic capital of Palma de Mallorca - a festive procession of tens of thousands of pilgrims to the Luke Monastery (out of 50 thousand participants in 2012, about the final goal reached 15 thousand people).

In addition to the monastery itself, in Luke there are a botanical garden (opened in 1956)) and the Luke Museum Museu de LLuc , with archaeological departments, ceramics, an art gallery and others (opened in 1954). The history of the Luke Monastery is documented in materials stored in the archives of the Luke College (Arxiu del Coŀlegi de Lluc (ACL) , consisting of 5,000 printed works and 500 manuscript scrolls, the oldest of which dates back to 1244.

In 2007, 66 people lived in the Luke settlement.

According to legend, shortly after the liberation of Mallorca from the rule of the Moors in 1229, a young Muslim shepherd on Saturday among the cliffs, on the banks of a mountain stream, found the statue of Mare de Déu de Lluc hidden there, which later became the patron saint of Mallorca. This statue was transferred to the church of Eskorka, but the next morning, the faithful who came to bow to it saw that the shrine had disappeared. She was found at the very spot where her shepherd discovered. Delivered again to the church, the next morning the Black Madonna was again discovered in the mountains of the island. As a result, their priest Eskorki ordered to erect a small chapel for the Mother of God, called Santuari de Santa Maria de Lluc .

According to historical data, the first church in Luke was erected in 1230, a year after the liberation of the island from the Moors. In 1260, according to the will of the king of Aragon, the monastery of the Augustinian order was created in Luke. The chapel of Santa Maria de Lluc was first mentioned in writing in the will of the knight Valenti de Ses Torres from 1268. In 1273, crowds of pilgrims were already heading for Luke, despite the rather dangerous path. Only at the end of the XIV century a convenient road was laid from the city of Inca in the central part of Mallorca to Luke.

With the increase in the number of pilgrims in the 15th century, changes took place in the administration of the monastery. At the head of it is a college of priests. In 1456, the local church ( Església de Lluc ) received the rights of the cathedral church from Pope Calixtus III , and in 1531 from Clement VII the special rights of the Catholic ministry according to Bull Pastoralis officii .

The holy statue found in the mountains of Serra de Tramontana was lost as far back as the Middle Ages and in 1520 was replaced by a sculpture of the “Black Madonna” of Flemish work (in the Gothic style), which can still be seen in the local basilica. In 1586, the current building of the Sanctuary of Santuari de Lluc was built for the pilgrims to relax, and in 1589 a star-shaped, Renaissance-style spring was broken in front of it - like a watering hole for mules, donkeys and horses of believers. The current building of the Basilica Església de Lluc was built in the Renaissance style and was erected from 1622 to 1691, its altar was consecrated in 1684. In 1707, the basilica received the honorary title of Royal Chapel from the Spanish King Charles III . In August 1884, at the behest of Pope Leo XIII , the bishop of Mallorca, Jaime Mateu, adorned the head of the statue of the Madonna with a crown, and the sculpture itself with precious stones.

Since 1891, the Luke Monastery has been ruled by the Catholic Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus .

•   Wikimedia Commons has media related to Luke Monastery
• Monestirs i santuaris: Santuari de Lluc (in Catalan)
• Santuari de Lluc (Catalan.)

• Luke Museum (Part One: Archeology)