La Catedral de Santa María de Astorga

Between the façades of Iglesia San Esteban and Iglesia Santa Marta is the Celda de las Emparedadas, the small square opening between the churches (Cell of the Walled), an irregular space with a window open to the street of the Camino route, is a rare testimony to the medieval custom of urban hermits (in this case, women) being walled up for life in a small cell. The cell could be constructed next to a church or cemetery, in hospitals and monasteries, in bridges or city walls, in the middle of a city or in its suburbs. On many occasions, it had a small window open to a church and another to the street. In the Middle Ages, more women than men chose this voluntary confinement, which presented almost a luxury compared to life in a cloister. The confinement began with a farewell to the world, a liturgical ceremony with the Office of the Dead, and entry into the cell whose door was then walled up. (Brierley describes this as a “cell which housed the city hookers,” and www.artehistoria.com says [translated]: “This cell was used to lock up those women of bad morals.” However, most other sources say the women were locked there by their own choice and remained there until death, devoted to prayer and penitence.)
In the case of this cell in Astorga, outside contact was reduced to a narrow, barred window overlooking the street. Pilgrims passing through Astorga, on their way to the Cathedral, established a relationship with them and gave them food through that window. The Latin inscription above the window says: “MEMOR ESTO JUDITII MEI, SIC ENIM ERIT ET TUUM. MIHI HERI, ET TIBI HODIE EX ECCLESIASTES,” [which translates: Remember my condition because this will be yours. I yesterday, you today. From Ecclesiastes]. Another window connecting to the chapel of Iglesia Santa Marta (to the sanctuary, when the old church that existed before the 18th century was reversed from today), allowed the women to observe the sacred offices and mass.

The Plaza Ingeniero Eduardo de Castro is in front of the Palacio Episcopal. In the Plaza Ingeniero Eduardo de Castro is a modern, green colored sculpture commemorating the 100th anniversary of the Junta Profomento Semana Santa Astorga (1908-2008). It’s shocking for an American to see a statue with hooded figures. Turns out the Ku Klux Klan appropriated the use of hoods and gowns, apparently having completely misunderstood what was going on. The hoods are used by members of fraternal religious organizations generally called Cofradías. These groups, closely monitored by religious orders like the Franciscans and Dominicans, wear the pointed hoods which was a practice of the penitent flagellants. Flagellants were people who in order to atone for sin, would wear open backed shirts and scourge themselves with various whips and other mortification devices. They wore the hoods because they did not want to draw attention away for the religious penitence that they were practicing. So the hoods indicated a person seeking forgiveness for sins. Later teachers (possibly in religious schools) used pointy hats to indicated a child who needed to change their ways. So you might correctly conclude the The Klan in America are dunces.Read more