ZORITA

View of Sanctuary of the Balma "Santuario de la Balma"

My first visit to Zorita, another disappearing village of some 147 inhabitants, took place on the recommendation of our man at the Hostal Elias (now closed), Morella. It was a winter's day whe we drove there a distance of some 20 kilometres. Plenty of snow about but reasonably clear roads. According to the map we were driving alongside the river Bergamonte but could see no sign of it due to the high banking snow etc. Passing the village of Zorita on our right hand side we came to a bridge over the river and there in front of us high on the side of a vertical cliff we saw the 'Sanctuario de la virgen de la Balma' or 'Sanctuary of the Virgen of the Balma'. Absolutely impressive it captured a persons curiosity immediately.

After climbing up rather rickety cobble steps we found ourselves in a huge cave and in one corner a small desk with information for visitors imparted by an extremely charming young woman named Beatriz. Bea is responsible for the Sanctuary and the Since our first meeting I have named her 'Bea de la Balma' which suits her admirably. And it was Bea who related the legend that this extraordinary place was built on.

According to the legend a shepherd was attracted to a cave in a cliff from which is emanating a mysterious light. The shepherd investigates and finds it issuing from the rock face within the cave. Mesmerized he stands there staring, when without warning, he hears a voice instructing him to go to the local priest and tell him that from now on the place has to be used as a holy shrine for sick people both physically and mentally. Our Shepherd then leaves the cave, and on discovering, to his amazement, that his useless arm is now functioning normally, rushes off to the ‘pueblo’ to tell the priest. The priest then calls all the villagers together and after the Shepherd has demonstrated how well his cured arm was functioning, they all set off to see the cave for themselves. One would have thought that this would be the easy part. Oh no! Certainly not. On the way they encounter Satan who tries to bar their way. However a timely intervention by the Archangel, St. Michael allows them to proceed. So from that point on the Sanctuary became a shrine and hospital for suffers from mainly mental illnesses many of which termed as 'Demonic Possession' were really epileptics.