Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage to the hermitage of Maristel·la

Esporles
Parish of Esporles
Participants climb on foot from Esporles (198m) to the hermitage of Maristel·la (570m) in about 45 minutes. On the way down, you pass by the monument to the Heart of Jesus, before reaching the town.
Mass, aperitif and game of cucanyes. Popular paella for lunch and, afterwards, hail to the Virgin of Maristel·la (‘star of the sea’). The evening before, the Heart of Jesus is illuminated and visible from the village.
The hermitage was built by the Discalced Carmelites in 1890 thanks to an inheritance that, two years earlier, they had received from the lady of Son Ferrà, Margalida Rosselló i Ferrà, who bequeathed them a part of the forest. In the early years, the hermitage was known as del Carmel and was inhabited by hermits until 1926, when the property passed into the hands of the parish of Esporles. It is an austere construction, which draws attention from afar for its white color in the middle of the holm oak forest. It consists of a chapel and rooms to house pilgrims.
– Monument to the Heart of Jesus, clearly visible from the village of Esporles. It was inaugurated in 1940 and depicts Christ with his arms open over the town as a sign of protection. This large figure was commissioned to the sculptor Bartomeu Amorós by the rector of Esporles, Mateu Tugores Maimó.
– Fita del Ram (833m). Summit with easy access from the hermitage and which is a beautiful viewpoint of the region.

Joys to Our Lady of Mount Carmel

Poem by Mn. Miquel Costa i Llobera (1854-1922)

 

When your glory, oh Queen, dawned

in the sublime distance of prophecies,

already your image beheld Elijah

on the rough Carmel and the blue sea.

 

On the waves and the Costa Brava,

of the sea among the deep harmonies,

brighter today than in those days,

Your image is beautifully engraved on it.

 

Virgin of Carmen!, you may well be there

here, where the effort of a grateful soul

humble offers you a new sanctuary.

 

Pay for it with a treasure without measure…

and spread the scapular from here

to the castaway of the sea… and that of life!