Dominguito del Val

Dominguito's legend

The historical basis for Dominguito is unclear. No medieval references to the legend have been found; the first texts that recount the tale date from 1583, three hundred thirty-three years after the fact. The story appears to have been largely copied from the legend of Little Saint Hugh of Lincoln, collected by Fray Alonso de Espina. According to the accounts, Alfonso X of Castile wrote the original rendition of the story in 1250, saying: "We have heard it said that some very cruel Jews, in memory of the Passion of Our Lord on Good Friday, kidnapped a Christian boy and crucified him."

According to the legend, Dominguito was born on 1243 in Zaragoza and was admitted as a cathedral altar-boy and chorister at La Seo because of his beautiful voice. He disappeared on 31 August 1250, when he was seven years old. Some months later, some boatmen discovered the decomposed corpse on the bank of Ebro river.

The story goes that one day on his way home the boy met a Jew by the name of Albayuceto, who deceived him and brought him to a house in the Jewish quarter, where he was nailed to a cross and tortured until he died. In an effort to dispose of the body, they beheaded him, cut off his feet and buried the corpse on the banks of the Ebro River.

The child's bones were later interred in the cathedral, where in the chapel of Santo Dominguito del Val they are still revered as holy relics. Though he was officially removed from the Roman Martyrology after the Second Vatican Council due to lack of historical proof, Dominguito continued to be revered as a saint and celebrated every 31 August in the diocese of Zaragoza up to 2017.

The story resembles others like the so-called "Holy Child" of La Guardia (inspired by a real inquisitorial process in 1491).

The story has similarities with other tales circulating in late-medieval Europe alleging the murder of a child at the hands of Jews. These were symptomatic of the growing anti-Semitism towards the end of the Middle Ages, when it became common to blame the Jewish community for any misfortune (weather, droughts, etc.). Often, these stories were used to rationalize imposing greater repressive measures against the Jews.

References

Sources

• Álvarez Chillida, Gonzalo (2002). The Antisemitism in Spain. The image of the Jew (1812–2002). Madrid: Marcial Pons. p. 47. .
• Whitechapel, Simon. Flesh Inferno: Atrocities of Torquemada and the Spanish Inquisition (Creation Books, 2003).

References

1. [https://historiaragon.com/2017/08/31/el-martirio-de-santo-dominguito-de-val/ Gil, Sergio Martinez. "The Martyrdom of Santo Domenguito de Val", Historia de Aragon]
2. (4 September 2014). "Spanish Attitudes Toward Judaism: Strains of Anti-Semitism from the Inquisition to Franco and the Holocaust". McFarland.
3. [http://www.mondonedoferrol.org/cms/media/pdfs/203.pdf page 286] on the Spanish Catholic Liturgical Calendar 2016–2017.
4. (2005). "The Medieval Holocaust: The Approach of the Plague and the Destruction of Jews in Germany, 1348-1349 Destruction of Jews in Germany, 1348-13". Faculty Publications.