One of my favorite places I have been this semester is Montserrat. Montserrat is a multi-peaked mountain north of Barcelona. My roommates and I made the trip with one of my roommate’s families while they were visiting. When I heard they were interested in going, I was thrilled because one of my friends had told me about the time he went with our high school a few years ago. St. Ignatius was a staple in my religious education at Xavier High School. After losing his arm in battle, determined to live the life of a hermit St. Ignatius of Loyola climbed Montserrat. There he would stay for almost a year and live a quite life full of prayer. Finally, I had the chance to see this mountain for myself.
To get there, we took a train for one hour. Then we had to take a funicular, and to get to the very top of the mountain another funicular. First we explored the Benedictine abbey, Santa Maria de Montserrat. This is monastery built into the side of the mountain. The monastery is home to the Virgin of Montserrat, one of the black Madonnas of Europe. The black Madonnas are a series of medieval statues and paintings in which the Virgin Mary is black. They are said to be very holy, and if you touch one, which we all did, it is good luck.
After exploring the monastery and seeing the cave where St. Ignatius prayed, my roommates and I took the funicular to the top of the mountain. My buddy’s family was intimidated by the steep incline of the funicular so they stayed behind. It was nice being on the very top of mountain with just my three roommates because after sharing this whole semester abroad experience together, we knew this was the best view we’ve had of anywhere so far. We agreed that the view was better than from the top of Tibidabo, which says a lot. The air was the freshest I came across all semester. Completely surrounded by nature on the top of a mountain, I felt closer to heavens than ever before.
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