MONTSERRAT, a mountain and monastery in Spain, 3o m. N.W. of Barcelona. The mountain is of grey conglomerate; its main axis trends from west-north-west to east-south-east, and its circumference is about 18 miles. The loftiest point is the Turo de San Jeronimo, also called Mirador and La Miranda (4,070 ft.).
On the east the base of the Montserrat is washed by the river Llobregat. The Montserrat consists of jagged pinnacles and spires (penascos) rising abruptly from the base of the mass, which is cloven by ravines, and abounds with precipices. It is the mons serrates of the Romans, the monte serrado of the Spaniards, and is thus named either in allusion to its jagged appearance, or be cause it is split, as if sawn by the vast fissure of the Valle Malo. This occurred, say the Spanish legends, at the time of the Cruci fixion, when the rocks were rent.
The monastery stands 2,910 ft. high on the edge of the Valle Malo. It owes its existence to an image of the Virgin, said to have been carved by St. Luke and brought to Barcelona by St. Peter in A.D. 3o. When the Moors invaded the province in 717 the image was taken to Montserrat and hidden in a cave. In 88o Gondemar,
bishop of Vich, was to the cave by sweet sounds and smells, and there found the image, which he determined to take to Manresa. But at a certain spot on the mountain the image refused to proceed farther; there it was consequently deposited, and a chapel was erected to contain it. Round the chapel a nunnery was built, and in 976 this was enlarged and converted into a second Benedictine convent. During the Napoleonic wars (1808-14) it was despoiled of treasures. In 1835, as a result of the Carlist in surrection, the convent was deprived of its estates and the num ber of monks reduced to about 20. In 1874 the convent, which by a grant of Pope Benedict XIII. had been an independent abbey since 1410, was made subject to the bishops of Barcelona.
Nuestra Senora de Montserrat, Patrona de Cataluna ("Our Lady of Montserrat, Patron Saint of Catalonia"), is one of the most celebrated images in Spain, and her church is visited annually by more than 6o,000 pilgrims. The image is small, black, and carved of wood, but possesses magnificent robes and jewels.