The Legend of Cayo Carpo
Palestine. The year is 44 a.c.. One of the disciples of Christ,
James the Greater, returns to his homeland. In previous years,
and obeying the call that Jesus cast him when he ascended to
heaven - "Go, scatter the Good News" - became an apostle and
had been spreading the message of Christianity by one of the
most isolated regions of the vast Roman Empire, across the
Mediterranean Sea, on the Iberian Peninsula.
But this return to Palestine wasn’t happy. Accused of being a
Christian, he was arrested, tortured and
killed. His disciples, some of which he
converted along his way in the peninsula,
decided to bury James there, in one of the
places he had been preaching and
developing its apostolic mission. Collected
the body, placed it in a stone boat which
couldn’t sink and, in just seven days, made a
trip full of other miracles, that took them to Galicia, on the
banks of the Ulla river, where they disembarked the body and
gave him grave in a place that, centuries later, would be known
as Compostela.
Meanwhile...
A wedding. A beach. A party. The place is in the northwest of
the Iberian Peninsula, the vast beach that starts south of the
river Leça. The date is the same. The year 44 a.c., during the
Roman rule in the region. Cayo Carpo, the main lord of this
territory, chose this site as ideal for his wedding with Cláudia
Lobo.
The party had been planned: a large number of guests,
banquets, exhibition fighters, musicians and dancers,
tournaments and an endless number of games, all of which
meant a big space.
And among all of his territory, this beach, yet unnamed, was
the one that presented the desirable conditions, and so the
chosen one.
The religious ceremony was over. The meals had been
successful, to the sound of music and dancing.
Then the groom decided to challenge some of his guests, other
lords and proficient Roman knights, to a horse race on the
sand. But a curious feature: the aim would be unable to achieve
in the first place a particular target placed somewhere on the
beach, but come up with the horses towards the sea, penetrate
this and take riding, through the waters, as far as possible. Who
could move more of the coast would win the race.
There were many riders who took on the challenge of Cayo
Carpo and embarked on the ride towards the Atlantic. But no
one could match the young groom. The distance he gained
from his pursuers left everyone stunned. Also because
something miraculous was happening: his horse wasn’t getting
inside the water. The horse continued, rampant, on the sea, in
the direction of a small boat which was heading north.
Cayo Carpo was apprehensive, but the crowd, curious, all this
watched from the beach expecting the encounter with the boat.
He had been carved in stone and, inside, followed a corpse!
The crew, however, quieted him and explained that they were
Christians and that they would take the body of their master,
James, to give him burial.
Deeply amazed by all that he’d seen and which was also
participatory witness in, and also after acquainted travelers of
the message and teachings of Jesus, Cayo Carpo converted
immediately to Christianity.
The return to the land was followed in an expectant manner by
those who watched all this from the beach. They needed an
explanation and certainly the rider had it.
In the beginning, the horse was moving on top of the water, but
suddenly the animal and its owner disappeared, swallowed by
the sea. And when, after a few moments, despair began to take
care of everyone, fearing for what might have happened to the
young man, magically the rider and his mount reappear,
leaving the waves to the beach.
And a new miracle had happened: Cayo Carpo and the horse
came completely covered with scallops - a kind of shellfish that
has since then started to be associated with the cult of Santiago
and its pilgrimage routes. The crowd quickly approached the
groom and is told about these wonderful events it had
witnessed and following the explanations which then are
supplied to it by the young Roman lord, all present also
converted to Christianity.