"The stone cross of Catedral church" - "La cruz de piedra de la Iglesia de la Catedral"

 

Quito downtown has a lot of mysteries, it saves many secrets that if someone does not tell them, people will not know anything. I really like legends, and they are better when happened in a place where you have been before.

In this occasion, the legend happens in the “Plaza Grande”, exactly in the corner of the Catedral church where is located its big cross. Did you know why is a big cross there? Well, this post is about that legend…

This story happened many years ago, a block and a half of the Catedral church where was a really known place “La Fonda del Duende Negro”, the reason of its name was because of the appearance, it was a little house with two windows in each side, and at nights the lights shone intensively, so it was like a goblin’s head.

Every night three men came to the place, wearing a white suit with a really large black coat, and a big black hat too. People said that they belonged to rich families because of their expensive clothes and the vocabulary that they used. They had a routine, until midnight they would have finished the card game and came back to their homes, hoping that the night after they will play again.

However, a tragic night came when they drunk a lot. In one drink and another, one of the three lords became angry because he lost the card game. 

His words were:

-                This is not how a gentleman plays!

-                You’re wrong! Told the other lord. I played fair, continued he.

-                I tell you not, because you have seen my cards!

-                That’s not true! I assure you that I didn’t see anything…

-                You’re a liar!

When the angry lord said that, he took up a dagger and stabbed it to his friend. After a few seconds, he realized of what he had done, after that he took the bloody body of his friend in his arms and cried bitterly, but he ran away from the place without a trace.

The owner of the Fonda del Duende Negro, fearful of the problems she might have with the police, asked the other man in white to take the body away and leave it near the Plaza Grande for someone to find it the next day. This is what the other man did and placed him next to the door of the Cathedral, where there was a pile of stones for some construction.

After that, he heard a lowly voice: “Stop! Wait! Give me a little rest, I’m dying!” It was the friend who had not actually died. But he was seriously injured, so he told him it was better to took him to a house on Loma Grande where they would help him. When the lord asked him why, the injured friend asked him to take off his hat, and when he did, he realized that he was a priest, that is why he wanted to avoid scandal.

The friend got a little upset, but the wounded man promised that if he helped him and saved himself he would not escape from the convent of Santo Domingo, where he lived, and would even have a stone cross erected in the place where they were at that time in order to always reminded of his covenant. So, the friend loaded him up and took him to the Loma Grande, trying to make sure that no one realized who the wounded man was, pretending that he was just a random drunk who couldn't walk.

To make this story short, apparently the priest was saved and kept his promise, because as we can see today the stone cross still stands in the place where one day there was a pool of blood and a solemn secret promise was made between two friends.

Did you enjoy the legend?

Could you do something similar for one of your friends?