TARRAGONA
4G0
TARRAGONA
Pope John XIII to confer the title of Archbishop of
Tarragona on Bishop Att6n of Vich, although he
never was called Archbishop of Tarragona but of
Ausona.
The Bishop of Vich, Berengarius of Rosanes, peti- tioned Pope Urban II for permission to promote a crusade for the reconquest of Tarragona. Count Berenguer Ram6n II (the Fratricide) succeeded in taking the city and made it a fief of the Holy See. The pope, in recognition of the efforts of the Bishop of Vich, conferred on him the palhum as Archbishop of Tarragona, transferring to him all rights to the city and its churches which had previously belonged to the Holy See. The new bishop, however, was to remain in possession of the Church of Vich. A similar con- cession was granted to St. Olegarius, Bishop of Bar- celona, who was permitted to retain possession of his former Church until he had obtained complete and peaceful possession of that of Tarragona, of which he had been named Archbishop. It was not until 1116 that Tarragona was definitively recon- quered by Rani6n Berenguer III (the Great). Bishop Be- renguer had died in 1110, after having as- sisted, in 1096, at the Council of Nimes convoked by Urban II. His .successor in the See of Tarragona St. Olegarius, ha been a canon reg\ilar at St. Rufus in Pro- vence, later an abbot, and then Bishop of Barcelona. To him is due the restorat ion of the metropolitan authority of Tarra- gona. In 1117 Count Ram6n Berenguer III con- ferred on him the government of the city that he might endeavour to recolonize it, which work he carried on with great zeal. He assisted at the coun- cils of Toulouse and Reims (1109), of the Lateran (1123), and of Clermont (1130), and accompanied the Count of Barcelona as pontifical legate in the war which terminated in the imposition of a tribute upon Tortosa and Lcrida. The Norman Robert Burdet also joined the forces of the Count of Barcelona, established himself in Tarragona and obtained domin- ion over a great part of the city. The consequent dissensions among his sons led to the murder by them of Archbishop Hugo de Cervell6n 22 April, 1171. On the death of St. Olegarius (G March, 1137), Gregory, Abbot of Cuxana, succeeded him in the vacant See of Tarragona, and was the first incum- bent of that see to receive the title of archbishop.
The dissensions between the archbishops and the kings, on account of the jurisdiction over Tarragona granted to the bishops who had begun its resettle- ment, continued during the time of Alfonso II, who bestowed the city as a doWTy on his wife. Dona Sancha, and of Pedro IV (the Ceremonious), who, after forcibly seizing the dominions of the arch- bishop, repented in his last illness and restored to St. Tecla, patroness of the city, all that he had unjustly acquired. By special privilege of the pope, all the kings of Aragon were crowned at Saragossa by the archbi.shop of Tarragona, until the metropolitan See of Sargossa was re-established. When Jaime I, a child of si.x years, took the oath, the Archbish()p of Tarragona, Don .\spargo Barca, carried him in his arms. Although lie was far advanced in years, he wished to accompany the king in his expedition to conquer Majorca, and when Don Jaime refused his
consent, he contributed a thousand marks in gold
and twelve hundred armed men. In 1242 a provin-
cial council was convoked at Tarragona to regulate
the procedure of the Inquisition and canonical pen-
ances. In 1312 a provincial council was assembled
in the Corpus Christ i Chapel of the cathedral cloister,
to pass sentence on the Templars, whom it declared
innocent. Don Pedro Zagarriga, Archbishop of
Tarragona, was one of the arbitrators at Caspe. One
of the most celebrated prelates of Tarragona, Don
Antonio Agustin (d. 1586), a native of Saragossa,
was an eminent jurisconsult and numismatist. He
put an end to the struggles referred to in "Don
Quixote", between the Narros and Cadells factions,
which had disturbed the peace of Catalonia.
The cathedral, it is believed, was begun by St. Olegarius. The edifice is solid and elegant, com- bining the Romanesque, Arabic, and Gothic styles of architecture, producing a very original and unique effect. Its facade is composed of three sections, and the ground plan, in the form of a Latin cross, has three naves and a wide transept. In the right nave is the chapel of St. Tecla, patroness of the city, begun in 1760 under the direc- tion of Don Jos6 Prats and finished in 1776. Thebaptisnial font is a magnificent marble basin found in the ruins of the palace of Augustus. The chapter house, celebrated for the councils held there, has a Byzantine door and a notable dome. .4s late as the fifteenth century the ca- thedral had not yet been completed, as the sculp- tor, Pedro Juan, did not begin work on the mam altar until 1426. The choir was not finished until 1493. The chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the organ, built by the cura of Tivisa, Don Jaime Amig6, the stained glass, etc. date from the sixteenth century.
Among the buildings worthy of mention are the Churches of San Pablo and Santa Tecla, the convent of the Poor Clares, near the walls, that of Santa Teresa, and the church of the Capuchins, the parish church of the port. The former Convent of San Francisco has been converted into government offices and a second- ary school, the Jesuit college turned into barracks, their church, however, having been restored to them. The convent of the Dominicans is now the town hall, and the convents of the Mercedarians and Carmelites turned over to military uses. The archiepiscojial palace is situated on the site of the ancient capitol, one tower of which still remains. The palace was rebuilt by Don Romualdo Mon y Valarde (1815-19). Near the sea, in the Roman amphitheatre, is the edi- fice called ('( Milagro (the Miracle), which belonged to the Knights Templar. It was afterwards used by the Trinitarian Fathers, and has since been converted into a ijenitentiary. The remains of many Roman buildings are to be found at Tarragona; the waUs, the cajiitol, or citadel, the forum, the palace of Augustu.s, called the house of Pilate, the circus or amphi- theatre, the aqueduct, known as the Puente del Di- ablo, the so-called tower, or sepulchre, of the Scipios, the arch of Sura, or of Bara, and the Aurelian Way. There is also a good archa-ological museum . The concil- iar seminary of San Pablo and SantaTecla w.a,s founded in 1570 by the cardinal archbishop, Caspar de Cervan-
