Hermitage of Sant Pere de Gaià
Community of Sant Pere del Gaià / Beati Petri de Gayano / Sanctum Petrum de Gaia
(Aiguamúrcia, Alt Camp)
On the right bank of the Gaià River, upstream from the monastery of Santes Creus, lie the ruins of an ancient church known for its eremitic past, which predates the arrival of the Cistercians at Santes Creus.
The earliest reference to this church, Sant Pere de Gaià, appears in a donation granted in the year 980 by Count Borrell II of Barcelona. Later, in 1154, it is mentioned again in a papal bull by Pope Anastasius IV, which confirmed the assets of the church of Tarragona. This document references both Sant Pere de Gaià and another church dedicated to Santes Creus del Gaià. At least the first of these churches functioned as an eremitic center inhabited by anchorites, and it developed before the arrival of the Cistercians at Santes Creus in 1160. Around 1170, these anchorites integrated into the Cistercian abbey, which then became the owner of Sant Pere and its assets. Today, the ruins of the church are still preserved.
Illustration from Liber Chronicarum Liber Chronicarum (1493)
Bayerische Staatsbibliothek
- FORT I COGUL, Eufemià (1965). L’eremitisme a la Catalunya Nova. Studia Monastica. Vol. 7-1. Abadia de Montserrat
- FORT I COGUL, Eufemià (1995). El eremitismo en la archidiócesis Tarraconense. España eremítica. Leyre
- FUENTES I GASÓ, Manuel-Maria (1995). Sant Pere de Gaià. Catalunya romànica. Vol. XXI. Barcelona: Enciclopedia Catalana
- GAVÍN, Josep M. (1980). Inventari d'esglésies. Vol. 6. Barcelona: Artestudi
The remains of the church are located on the right bank of the Gaià River, north of the monastery of Santes Creus, near the road to Pont d’Armentera