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It is a place of pilgrimage, where activities dedicated to human and spiritual growth are organized. The Cova del Pare Palau is a small cave in Aitona, protected as a Cultural Asset of Local Interest, where Father Francesc Palau (1811 – 1872) spent long periods of time.
It is located on the outskirts of the town, one kilometer southwest of the town center, leaving on the LP-7041 road towards Seròs, following the path on the right and the fork that leads to the cave. We have visited it in La Vanguardia’s Readers’ Photos.
Father Palau was a priest, a Discalced Carmelite friar, founder of the congregations of the Tertiary Discalced Carmelites, which gave rise to the Carmelite Missionary Sisters and the Teresian Missionary Carmelites. He was beatified by John Paul II in 1988.
The cave is formed from the alternation of layers of sandstone and shale and is the natural closure of a rocky inlet at the foot of a slope that gives shape to a shelter or balma.
Although the cave had different spaces, Father Palau lived an almost hermit-like life, with a space to sleep and a small fire to heat food.
Especially in recent years, the cave has become a very significant place of pilgrimage, not only for the schoolchildren of the Pare Palau schools or the sisters of the Congregation.
