Valldemossa - San Bartomeo

Mallorca is the largest island in the Mediterranean Balearic Islands, which are part of Spain. Mallorca is an extremely popular holiday destination. The Palma de Mallorca Airport, one of the busiest in Spain, is used by about 30 million tourists per year.

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the island was invaded by the Vandals in 425. The time of the Vandals ended, when Byzantine troops general took the island in 534. The first Muslim arrivals were in 707. These ended the Byzantine domination and established their own hegemony. Until 903, the island was part of the Umayyad Caliphate.
From Between 902 and 1229 the island was under Islamic control. James I of Aragon ( aka "Jaume el Conqueridor") conquered Mallorca in December 1229.

Valldemossa is a small town (pop.~2000) in the mountains of the Serra de Tramuntana. Sancho I de Mallorca in 1309 had a palace build here. He hoped that the air of the mountains would cure his asthma-

The construction of San Bartomeo started in 1235. The once Gothic church went through numerous transformations and renovations. In the 20th century, a series of renovations were carried out to mark the canonisation of Catalina Thomàs.

Catalina Thomàs was born in 1533 at Valldemossa. She worked as a servant and learned to read and embroider, before joining the Canonesses of St Augustine at the convent of St Mary Magdalene in Palma. She had mystic visions during which went into pious ecstasy. She died in1574 at Palma. After her death, she was celebrated locally as a saint for decades until Pope Urban VII forbade the worship of unrecognised saints.

Local people appealed to Rome and eventually, she was beatified in 1792 by Pope Pius VI and canonised on 22 June 1930 by Pope Pius XI.