Sister Catalina Bas was born in Xàbia in the fourteenth century, and was a hermit who developed her religious devotion in the middle of Les Planes. His house was a cave in the Cape San Antonio, very difficult to access and is still known as the cave of Sister Basota. Figure of Sister Caterina (in valencià) it deserves a street in the center of its municipality: this is its story.
The origins
The Hieronymite monks settled in isolated parts of the world, in search of solitude and tranquility to meet God and do penance. Around 1340, there was a movement in which numerous groups became hermits and dispersed through the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon in search of caves, mountains and other remote places. Here in Xàbia, twelve faithful withdrew to the calls holy caves (holy caves), under the Cape San Antonio.
In this same way, Sister Catalina Bas decided to isolate herself and do penance in a cave higher than that of the hermits.
View of Cap de Sant Antoni. The darkest parts are les 'coves santes' (Photo by Juan Bta. Codina Bas)In 1373 according to some sources, in 1376 according to others, the Bishop of València, Jaime de Aragón, granted Sister Catalina the privilege of building a hermitage in honor of Saint Anthony near his cave. This is how the historian Roc Chabàs speaks of Sister Catalina Bas:
"Born in Jábea [sic] of an ancient family, after the first quarter of the fourteenth century, she became known for her holy life and evangelical perfection, for the rough penance with which she macerated her body and tried to make herself worthy of her Creator. perfection and wanting to separate himself from the world, he looked for a place at Cape San Antonio, next to his hermitage, in a cave to which it is necessary to go down with great care because of the danger of falling into the sea, which roars at his feet. That day is called Sor Basota's cave, that is, the room of Sister Catarina Bas, and it is very close to half a league from the aforementioned hermitage of NS de los Ángeles. "
The decline
The Jerónimos had already founded a monastery in Les Planes, which was permanently attacked by the Berbers, who were taking them hostage. In 1386 some Jeronimos who had fled the destruction of their convent at the hands of pirates stayed in the hermitage. The order built another monastery in the interior lands, to stop suffering these attacks, and they "moved" to the Monestir of Sant Jeroni de Cotalba, in Alfahuir, eight kilometers from Gandía. It is assumed that the mystic Sister Caterina continued with the works and guardianship of the hermitage of San Antonio until her death, around the year 1400.
In the Loreto church, next to the entrance of the sacristy, there is a sarcophagus as a burial that contains, according to the information, the remains of Catherine.
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