Third stage: 27km from the stunning mediaval village of Santo Domingo de Silos to the birthplace of Saint Dominic in Caleruega.
Dominic de Guzman was a Castilian Catholic priest and the founder of the Dominican Order. He is the patron Saint of astronomers and natural scientists. He and his order of monks are traditionally credited with spreading and popularising the Rosary. Dominic was born into a very wealthy family in Caleruega in the south of the province of Burgos and received his early ecclesiastical education in the monastery of Santa Maria de la Vid a few kilometres south of his birth place. Dominic travelled through Europe in his early years on a diplomatic mision for the King of Castille meeting and learning from Cistercian monks in France and adopting the asceticism of the Cathars eventhough their gnostic and dualistic beliefs where deemed heretical by the Catholic Church. At the begining of the 13th Century he founded the Dominican Order which was later to be very strongly involved with the inquisition and received the nick name of Domini Canis the “Hounds of the Lord”, a play on words from the latin Dominicanus. The order´s origins in battling heterodoxy influenced its later development and reputation and the first Grand Inquisitor of Spain was a Domincan Monk called Tomás de Torquemada who lead the ruthless inquisition during the reign of Queen Isabel and King Ferdinand during the 15th century.
In later centuries and to this day the order became more known for its ascetism, mysticism and contemplative life with a huge focus on philosophical and theological education. The order now has over 100 monasteries and congregations all around the world, with active presence in every continent.
Stage 3 begins at the historic village of Santo Domingo de Silos and heads straight up in to the forest for a couple of kilometres before crossing through the amazing natural gorge of “La Yecla”. The stage then traverses through rolling hills covered in Juniper and pine forest through the Sabinares National Park and the Arlanza river valley before arriving at the village of Caleruega.
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