Legend tells of a German Pilgrim called Hugonell who was walking to Santiago with his parents, when they decided to rest at an inn in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The owner of the inn´s daughter immediately fell in love with him; however her feelings were not reciprocated, so the girl, angered, placed a silver cup into his luggage and accused the boy of theft.
Thieves at that time were punished by hanging, and this was the fate of Hugonell. His parents, saddened by his death continued the pilgrimage, and upon arriving in Santiago de Compostela, began their return journey to visit the grave of their dead son. When they arrived in Santo Domingo however, they found their son still hanging in the gallows but, miraculously alive. Hugonell, excited, said to them: “Santo Domingo brought me Back to life, please go to the Mayor´s house and ask him to take me down”. Quickly, the parents arrived at the Mayor´s house and told him of the miracle.
The incredulous Mayor, who was preparing to have dinner with friends, responded: “That boy is as alive as these two roast chickens we are about to eat.” Suddenly, the chickens came to life, sprouted feathers and beaks and began to crow. To this day there is a saying about the town which goes: “Santo Domingo of the Way, where the roosters crow after being roasted”. In the cathedral there is a stone, polychrome and gothic Henhouse, which was built in the middle of the fifteenth century to keep alive a hen and a rooster in memory of the most famous of Santo Domingo´s miracles. There are documents from Pope Clemente VI dated 1350 allowing these live animals inside the cathedral.
Here are two images from the cathedral illustrating the legend. Below them is definite proof of the veracity of the legend: Above the Cathedral hen and rooster, is a piece of wood, once part of the very gallows used to hang Hugonell.
Back to Santo Domingo de la Calazada