San Francisco Monastery

San Francisco's Monastery origins date back to 1214, when the Saint of Assisi and his companions made a pilgrimage to Santiago.

(See location on map, here)

Legend tells he was lodged in the house of a poor coal merchant called Cotolay next to the chapel of San Paio, on the slopes of Mount Pedroso, which can be clearly seen from some of the rooms.

Every night Saint Francis went to this mountain to pray, and on one occasion he received a divine revelation to build a convent in the so-called Val de Dios

One tradition has it that the use of a swinging censer in the Santiago de Compostela Cathedral began in the 11th century. Arriving pilgrims were tired and unwashed. They were also crowded together, and until 1786, used to eat and sleep in the cathedral.  Dispersing incense smoke inside the church under these conditions was probably a reasonable approach to combat the bodily odors of the accumulated masses.