The sanctuary or chapel of Santa Maria de Montgrony is a Marian sanctuary in the diocese of Vic, located in Montgrony.
It is located on the cliffs of the Sierra de Sant Pere, about 1370 meters above sea level, in the municipality of Gombrèn, in the Catalan region of Ripollès. [1] Just above the cliff where the chapel is located is the church of Sant Pere de Montgrony.
It is one of the main centers of Marian devotion in Ripollès and even in the neighboring counties. It is attached to the large rock that climbs the bold staircase that leads to the Pla de Sant Pere. This staircase begins in the great hospitality of the sanctuary, and the chapel or sanctuary itself is in the middle of the staircase and has as its wall on the north side the bare rock. An image of the Virgin Mary is worshiped. She is a black virgin, largely rebuilt after an accidental fire in 1892 destroyed the old one, probably from the beginning of the thirteenth century, which had probably already been venerated in St. Peter's Church. The first news of the cult of the Virgin of Mogrony is from 1400, when it already had a small building in its current location. The modern building was built in 1650-52.
A tradition has it that it was found in 804 by a shepherd and an ox from Can Camps, near a fountain a quarter of an hour from the sanctuary, halfway up the coast, where a chapel with a allusive inscription and an engraved image that releases water through the breasts; that is why she has been called the Virgin of Milk and advocate for women breastfeeding their children. Source, image and inscription, which speaks of the first and legendary Hug of Mataplana in 804, are the work of the seventeenth century, contemporaries of the time of construction of the sanctuary.
The hospitality industry was renovated and expanded in the eighteenth century — a project to build a large shrine was not carried out — and will be so again in the last third of the twentieth century, when a forest track from the bridge of La Foradada or Garfull to the Coll Roig, which leaves the road from Campdevànol to Guardiola de Berguedà (a small branch of 700 m. connects the sanctuary and the hospitality industry).
Very interesting monastery just above Gombren. The hike is not super easy but not overly difficult. A couple of steep sections but overall a good walk. Above the Monastery there is a small chapel.
Sign up for a free komoot account to get 2 more insider tips and takes.