Immediate Family
-
son
-
daughter
-
daughter
-
mother
-
brother
-
brother
-
brother
-
stepdaughter
-
stepdaughter
About Íñigo Fortúnez
Sancha, married as her first husband Íñigo Fortúnez, son of king Fortún of Pamplona, and remarried Galindo Aznárez II, Count of Aragon.
The forgotten Moravian princess Saint Orosia
Altar of the Holy Martyr Orosia in the Cathedral of Jacca
Historical-fictional treatment of the life of the holy martyr
OROSIE (Greek according to the translation of St. Methodius Eurosius, according to the imperfect Czech translation DOBROSLAVA), born in 864(?), died martyred in 880 in Yebra de Basa, Spain. According to the legend written by the archpriest and dean of the cathedral in Jaco, Juan Francisco Aznárez (López), St. Orosie came from Great Moravia, and she was Bořivoje and Ludmila's hideout. According to the sources, her father was the Czech prince Mojslav (more precisely: Mojslav was a "Belarusian prince"); he is mentioned among the brave Czech princes (Fulda chronicles of 872). Her mother, who may have died soon after giving birth to her daughter under unclear circumstances, may have been named Dobroslava.
According to the Russian dictionary of historical Slavic names, Dobroslava's father Mojslav was not a Czech, but a prince of the White Croats, who at that time resided in northeastern Bohemia and North Moravia. It is therefore possible to talk about Orosia as a Moravian princess, because she belonged to the ruling circles of Great Moravia, as a state entity. (Zdeněk Opatril)
And when her father was also killed in a bloody skirmish with the Franks in 872, Orosia became an orphan at the age of eight. The orphan was taken in by the Czech prince Bořivoj and his young wife, later Saint Ludmila, who we know from Czech history as the first Czech Christian monarchs. Thus, Orosie became a member of the Czech ruling family and, thanks to Bořivoja's (and perhaps her own) blood relationship with the Moravian king Rostislav, but also Svatopluk, also a member of the Moravian royal court, a Moravian princess. (Note: at that time, Bohemia was part of Great Moravia.)
The then 25-year-old Prince Bořivoj, son of Duke Hostivít, married the young Ludmila, the only daughter and heir apparent of Pšovan Slavibor, the owner of vast lands and the famous Pšov Castle, which is where the city of Mělník is located today. Because of his good qualities and his wife's possessions, Bořivoj became the most powerful prince, something like the king of Bohemia. Nevertheless, he was dependent on the policy of his powerful neighbors Rostislav and Svatopluk, who respectively ruled Great Moravia.
Bořivoj and Ludmila established their court and residence in the famous Levý Hradec castle (now Roztoky near Prague) as early as 875. The orphan Dobroslava, who was 11 years old at the time, came to live with them as a shelter. Ludmila liked her very much. "She was a great friend to her," says the historical report, and "surpassed her by only a few years." This proves that Ludmila married very young, and that the age difference between Ludmila and Dobroslava was no more than six years. So close in age and united by love, both young, they spent happy days in that majestic mansion. These were years of peace and the spread of the Christian faith throughout the region, and young Dobroslava was characterized by kindness and altruism.
---
Prince Bořivoj was already a Christian at that time, as his great-grandson and the first historian of Bohemia, the monk Kristián, writes, because Bořivoj came to live in this castle, accompanied by a chaplain named Kaicha. Bořivoje was baptized by Archbishop St. Methodius. The fortress organized in this way, i.e. with a Christian commander and a court chaplain, appointed directly by the archbishop of St. Methodist, it soon turned into a tabernacle that could radiate the light of faith among the Czech pagans.
Bořivoj built a small church inside it, which was dedicated to St. Clement. In this way, the good duke expressed his gratitude to the fourth pope and the martyr St. Kliment - part of his remains were kept here, and at the same time also to the holy missionary brothers of St. Cyril and Methodius, who the body of St. Kliment had already been discovered at the place where he had been martyred in exile. Then the holy brothers carried them to their apostolic mission in Great Moravia.
"This was the first church in Bohemia," says Legenda, adding: "This was the church that served as the baptismal chapel of his wife Ludmila and the crypt of Orosia - Dobroslava - Eurosia. If the duke, as an older person, was baptized before he began his spiritual work in the fortress, Duchess Ludmila, his wife, and Orosie, both younger than the Duke, had to wait for their baptism. While the walls of St. Clement's Church were being raised, these two young women and spending time together, took part in religious instruction led by their chaplain Kaich. Both young women were already of an age of full reason, they could well understand the teaching and accept with full awareness what they would receive in baptism. They also understood the obligations that come with accepting Christianity.
---
BAPTISM OF LUDMILA AND OROSIA
They were probably baptized in 877, when Ludmila was 17 years old and Dobroslava 13 years old. They were baptized by a disciple of St. Methodius, a monk and at the same time also the court chaplain of Kaich. Dobroslava, if she was called that before, received the name Eurosia or Orosia at her holy baptism, which was predetermined by St. Methodius.
When the name was changed during church ceremonies, it was customary for the newly granted one to have something in common with the old one (e.g. the first letter: Saul - Paul, Konstantin - Kyrill; or the word was given a new meaning by shuffling the letters: Pantaleon - Panteleimon, etc.). In any case, the last accepted name should be used in the church. The old name of our martyr Dobroslava has a remotely similar meaning to her Christian name, the Greek Eurosia. The Slavic root "dobr" corresponds to the Greek "eu", which means "good, well" in both languages. The Slavic "ros" could correspond to the Greek "drósos, drosiá", denoting moisture, dew, small rain, which, however, has little to do with the name Dobroslava. If it is not just a hypothesis or a fantasy, then the name Orosia could correspond to the Greek word Eurosia, and could mean good, satiating rain or dew. If her name contained an allusion to dew even before her baptism, then in Old Slavonic she might have been called "Blagorosnaya", but the prefix "blago" is often redundant, so she could rather be called "Rosodátelnica or Rosonosnaya, Rosotočivaja", etc. However, the word Oresia, as an equivalent of Eurosia, is directly connected with dew. "A rore satias..." (Czech: Falling drop) says the medieval prayer (similar to the morning Marian service "rorates"). Based on these etymological considerations, our ancestors established the patronage of St. Eurosia over good, beneficial rain.
---
EXILE AND MARRIAGE
"The peace of Orosiin in Levý Hradec Castle did not last long. Some Czechs in Bohemia, because they remained pagans, rebelled against Prince Bořivoj." An encounter between the prince and his subjects seemed imminent and war inevitable. But the duke did not want war. He was a good, believing Christian. And also because he loved his people with a sincere and Christian love. In accordance with his conscience and "on the advice of his chaplain Kaich, he left with his whole family to seek refuge with the king of Great Moravia, Svatopluk. Bohemia was left without a ruler. A nobleman called Strojmír was elected in his place, who had been deprived of his estates by Duke Hostivít, the father of Bořivoj .This then happened in the middle of 879.
But many people, half converted to the faith, soon recognized the bad rule of Strojmír and demanded the return of their good Christian duke, who was voluntarily in exile. The period without the rule of Prince Bořivoj did not last long. His great-grandson, the chronicler Kristián, says that it lasted "aliquantulum", which is the Latin form of the diminutive, which various Slavic authors translate as: "about 10 months". Bořivoj lived in Velehrad, at the court of his friend and relative King Svatopluk. Visits and advice of Archbishop St. The Methodists made this exile of his more bearable. All three of them, Bořivoj, Ludmila and Orosie, strengthened themselves in the Christian faith they had accepted, as well as in the duties that this faith entails. Thanks to St. To Methodius, Prince Bořivoj and his family could soon return victoriously to Bohemia.
In the fall of 879, St. Methodius again called to Rome. But this holy missionary did not arrive in Rome until June 880, "at the time when the Aragonese delegation was also there". What happened that the Aragonese delegation was in Rome, and why did it meet there with the delegation of the Apostle of the Slavs St. Methodist? Very interesting events took place, which are recorded only in the Legend of Juan Francisco Aznárez López, and which perfectly coincide with the latest historical knowledge, as well as with Spanish tradition.
"Don Fortunio Ximenes (Fortún Jiménez), King of Aragon and Navarre, asked the Holy Father, through ambassadors, to annul the ecclesiastical vows made by his second-born son, Don Fortunio Garcés. This is so that this son can ascend the throne, since the first-born son and heir the throne perished in the war with the Moors.And in order for the Holy Father to see that he was not asking this out of mere capriciousness, the king asked that the pope himself should choose a wife for his son, so that the people would have a leader against the raids of the Moors.
In 880, Pope John VIII requested the Archbishop of Moravia and Pannonia, St. Methodius during his third visit to Rome to find a suitable bride for the son of Fortuna I, King of Navarre. Since Saint Luke had no daughter, Methodius recommended Orosia.
So the Pope accepted the recommendation. He freed Don Fortunio from his ecclesiastical obligations and recommended Orosia to him as a wife. Part of the delegation returned to Aragon together with some of St. Methodius, the second part of the Aragonese left with St. Methodist to arrange a marriage with Eurasia's "parents" and herself. When they heard that the Pope himself had intervened in this matter, Bořivoj and Ludmila gave their consent. And out of politeness they informed Svatopluk, who was in the north of Great Moravia at that time.
Then the two delegations met again in Rome, where they delivered the letters of their sovereigns, and then they all went together again to Great Moravia. They carried letters from the Pope of Rome and the King of Aragon, together with gifts for the duke and for the prince's noble bride. They also carried letters and gifts for St. Methodius and Holy Regiment. It was already the month of August and the Aragonese were in a hurry. They insisted on leaving quickly because they wanted to reach their country before it became impossible to cross the Pyrenees. Svatopluk was not against this wedding, and sent gifts to the bride from the north of Great Moravia.
Orosie was probably going through what any girl in such a situation would. She made a promise to a man she had never met before. She knew only from the accounts of his messengers that he was honest and valiant, that he was the heir to the royal throne in faraway Spain, and that if she was to become his wife she must undertake a long and dangerous journey to follow him. It was not an easy decision, but it was the Pope and the holy bishop Methodius who asked her to accept the prince's hand in the name of the prince and in the name of the Christian faith. Orosie finally agreed to become the wife of Fortún Garcés. Her proxy marriage was then celebrated.
---
JOURNEY AND MARTYRDOM
But God had other plans for her. In the month of September, they set out on their journey. The year was 880. They went through Passau (Passau), Basel (Basile), and in the month of October they came to the waters of the river Aragón, which is not far from the city of Yebra on the southern side of the Pyrenees."
In the autumn of 880, the Spanish prince Fortunio Garc of Jimenez was expecting his bride - his wife. In the city of Yebra, Don Domingo was first sent to the king with the announcement that she had already arrived. But (of spiritual state) he was captured by a Moorish band that was hanging around here, and killed. The gang was commanded by Aben Lupo - renegade, bandit, murderer. From the documents that the messenger Don Domingo was carrying, Aben Lupo learned of the arrival of Orosia, the bride of Don Fortún Garcés.
With this tragic death of the envoy of Don Domingo to the King of Aragon, the suffering of Orosia and her loved ones began. Orosi's royal procession, not knowing what had happened, awaited the return of Don Domingo. Uneasiness fell on the whole expedition. When the innkeeper, who had already experienced the depredations of the Moors near that place, saw this, he advised Orosia to flee with her company to the caves in the mountain. And she did. In a hurry, she left the house in the valley and ran towards the mountain. They had to leave lightly, with only a small load and a team.
"Then the bandit approached the expedition and with promises tried to gain the favor of Orosiina. The Arab wanted Orosiina to renounce her faith in Jesus Christ, to convert to Islam, to reject the hand of don Fortún Garcés and become his wife. In order to achieve his purpose, he delayed an attack on Orosi's retinue. But when he saw that his promises and tricks would do nothing, he gave the order to attack."
According to the breviary, the ambush began with the expedition's defenders being killed first. There was still time for Orosia and a few of her closest to escape from the place in the hills and ascend to the high plains of the mountain. "She and her surviving entourage were suffering from great thirst. At the place where they had reached in their escape, there was a well. Orosia prayed to God and immediately a spring of clean water appeared there. This was where the last match was to take place.
Aben Lupo personally attacked the defender and leader of Orosi's entourage named Cornel (Cornelio). But Orosia, who was at his side, held out her hand to protect him. The blow that should have killed Cornel severed her hand at the wrist. After this grievous wound, and the sight of hope dashed, Aben Lupo himself cut up the body of Cornelius, and in a rage, ordered one of his assistants to cut off Orosia's other arm, as well as her head and legs. In this way, at the age of barely 16, Orosie earned the palm of martyrdom along with the rest of her entourage. This happened in October of the year 880." Thus, instead of love, she found martyrdom in a far foreign land. At that moment there broke out a terrible hailstorm, a terrifying roar of waters and deafening thunder and gale. The Moors fled in terror.
Orosi was 15-16 years old at the time.
Among those who accompanied Orosia in her last moments was, according to tradition, besides the leader Cornelius, also Bishop Acisclo, apparently Cornelius' brother.
"Someone from the town of Yebra warned Don Fortunio that something bad might happen to Orosia in the mountains. So he set out to help his wife, but he arrived too late. In those dangerous moments, there was no time to arrange an honorable burial for Orosia and her entourage. Don Fortunio he thought of nothing but how to pursue and catch up with Aben Lupo. That is why he buried the remains of his royal bride. Don Fortunio Garcés did not rest, the pain hardened his heart. He pursued the Moors and the murderer of his beloved Orosie."
It can be confirmed that Fortún Garcéz continued to rule for another 20 years despite the tragic loss of his beloved Orosia. According to records, he never remarried, living unmarried out of respect for the woman who was to be his wife and queen, but who was destined by God to remain a virgin and become a martyr, the wife of Christ, the renowned patroness of these mountains.
The unfortunate Fortunio avenged the death of his bride perfectly. Driven by passionate anger, he freed all of Spain from the Moors and protected Western Europe from the Muslims. The inhabitants attributed the victory over the Moors and Saracens to the help of the martyred Orosia, who was also accompanied by rumors that she controlled rain, lightning and hail.
Don Fortún Garcéz, King Monk, a monarch so tried and disappointed, even lived to see the beginning of the 10th century. In 901, he was supposed to reside in the monastery in Leire (de Leire) and remember his ancient ecclesiastical vocation there. Etc.
---
FINDING THE RELICS OF ST. OROSIA
"Nearly two years had passed since the tragedy. A simple shepherd, named Guillén, was tending his flock in those places. He knew no more of religion than the Lord's Prayer and some pious stories. He also knew one story about Orosia: That she came with the Sun over the Pyrenees, and that from rocks, somewhere near Yebra, she caused a spring of pure water to gush forth, water sanctified by Orosi through the five springs of her virgin blood."
"One day Guillén quenched his thirst at a spring and heard the beautiful and enchanting song of a bird. Suddenly the bird disappeared and the shepherd saw something like a white light emanating from a bush and heard something like an angel's voice saying to him: "Guillen, it is already long time no one came here. The Aragonese have forgotten Orosia, the one whom God wants to glorify. Pick up her body, it's buried under this grass, and take it to the valley! Leave the head in Yebra, but take its body to Jaca and place it on the right side of the altar under the tabernacle!" Guillén obeyed, wrapped the body in his clothes and went with it to Yebra. Here he left the holy head to the priest and ran to Jaca (she, according to the breviary, it was already populated again.) However, the news that announced the arrival of the Saint's remains spread faster than the shepherd. the dry wells filled with water, that Guillén healed the sick from the remains of the saint. And in Jace, the shepherd placed the body on the altar and told the inhabitants of his events. Then the bishop made him a canon and administrator of the remains of the saint. He studied, and when he was ordained a priest, he wrote the first history (of the life and death) of St. Orosius."
Relic of the head of St. Orosie The headless remains of the Moravian princess Oresia rest in the Gothic cathedral in the city of Jaca. Her head is cared for in the town of Yebra. Paradoxically, her final resting place is the only documented grave of a member of the ruling Mojmírov dynasty of Great Moravia.
This history is recorded in the medieval breviaries of Jaca, Huesca and Tarragona, which is clear and authenticated. It therefore has an indescribable historical value.
Pope John VIII, great believer of St. Orosia, died unhappily in December 882, that is, 2 years after the death of this noblewoman he had recommended. He died around the time her remains were retrieved (and transferred). We know from the annals that before he died, he sent his letter to St. Methodius. In this letter St. encourages Methodius to continue his difficult apostolate among the Slavs, and comforts him in his pains, among which was also the one they both felt for the martyrdom of St. Orosia. The holy missionary (St. Methodius) also died early (in 885), probably in Moravian Velehrad.
--
CANONIZATION AND CULT OF ST. OROSIA
Orosia was declared a saint, and became the patron saint of winegrowers and protector against bad weather. The canonization was recognized in the West in 1902 by Pope Leo XIII. and the "Sacred Congregation of Rites" in Rome confirmed the validity of the canonization of Orosia - Eurosia. She is recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church and there are no obstacles to her recognition by the Orthodox Church as well. As the first woman and Slavic woman from Moravia, St. Orosia and is the patron saint of Jaca, one of the ancient Spanish cities at the foot of the rocky massif of the Pyrenees.
Well-known texts in medieval prayers show that the canonization in the diocese and in the archdiocese, in the case of our young Orosia, took into account the obvious and understandable history of her life, her demonstrably ancient Slavic origin, her nobility, her wedding trip to Aragon and the circumstances of her martyrdom. The opinion of the people, vox populi, was also taken into account. Thus, the tradition of the Christian people about miracles performed at the intercession of Orosia was taken into account.
Feast of St. Orosia falls on June 25, i.e. the day of her canonization. It became a tradition to raise the remains of St. Orosie performed annually to celebrate her. This custom has its Spanish name: Ensena, Ensenar la Santa (showing the Saint).
The Clear Crown of Aragon is the only one in Spain that had a Moravian queen, a virgin, a martyr and a canonized saint.
- *
In Bohemia, her name fell into oblivion, but the Spaniards, French, Italians and other nations of the world know her and every June 25th they reverently worship her in the holiday called "Fiesta Santa Orosia".
But the Moravians do not forget their beautiful princess. In South Moravia, the memory of the magnificent procession carrying the young beauty of the royal family to a distant foreign country has been preserved in the form of a folk tradition called the Ride of the Kings, when the young king in a girl's costume represents a young girl of royal blood. The white rose in his mouth is, like the lily, a symbol of virginity.
We can imagine Saint Orosia as a charming, educated and pious girl, as our ancestors knew her, about whom a legend has been preserved, thanks to which we know that before she betrayed her faith and betrayed Christ, she died a heroic martyr's death. Her attitude in life would be admirable in this day and age and her story is worth following.
Our nation should respect its ancestors more and especially those who are a model of nobility, morality, faith, virtue and knowledge for all nations.
Let us humbly bow before the memory of the Moravian princess and Aragonese queen St. Orosia. Due to the ignorance of the exact day of her martyrdom, we can celebrate her on June 25 or with St. Ludmila and in any case in the choir of Czech saints (the second Sunday after Pentecost).
JUDr. Zdeněk Opatřil
(Slightly edited in places)
---
Literatura:
o Aznárez (López), Juan Francisco: Historia de Santa Orosia, Reine, Virgen y Mártir, Patrona de Jaca y su Diócesis, Imprenta Raro, Jaca, D. L. HU 100, 1981, 56 s.
o Ramón de Huesca: Iglesias de Aragón, tomo VIII.
o Annales Fuldenses sive Annales regni Francorum orientalis (MGH SS rer. Germ. in usum scholarum 7), ed. F. Kurze, Hannoverae, 1891.
o Bílý, J. L.: Moravští panovníci v 6. až 13. století, Nitra, 1997, s. 203.
o Palacký, František: Dějiny národu českého v Čechách a v Moravě, díl I., Kvasnička a Hampl, Praha 1939, s. 116.
o Francisco de Ruesta, manuscripto, 1780, 1.
o ANALES DE BARONIO, en los pontificados de Adriano II. y Juan VIII.
o Svoboda, Jan: Tajemná svatá Orosie, in: Přes propasti věků, Vyšehrad, 2004, s. 59-60.
o Podlaha, A.: Novější španělské spisky o sv. Orosii (Eurosii), domněním dceři knížete českého Bořivoje a sv. Ludmily, Časopis katolického duchovenstva, 58, 1917, s. 909-915.
o Český slovník bohovědný 3, Praha 1926, s. 919-920, heslo Eurosie.
o Bibliotheca Sanctorum 5, Roma, 1964, s. 240-241, heslo Eurosia (Filippo Caraffa).
o Martyrologium Romanum, Typis Vaticanis, 2001, s. 334.
o Jindřich František Bobák: Cesta princezny Orosie -- z Moravy na konec světa
o Jan Galatek: Volba velkomoravské královny krásy.
o Jan Galatík: Svatá Dobroslava...
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Family_tree_of_Navarre...
a legend would have his descendant 250 years later also:
Ordoño, conde de Gaviria (1120-...)
Íñigo Fortúnez's Timeline
905 |
905
|
||
???? | |||
???? | |||
???? | |||
???? | |||
???? |