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I have photographed for La Vanguardia's Readers' Photos the hermitage of Sant Jaume in the Casa de la Mata, in Sant Llorenç del Munt and Montcau, with the last sweet potato color of the sunset.
As a curiosity, I will tell you that inside this hermitage there is one of the few official seismographs of the Generalitat and that, for this reason, it cannot be visited.
We could say, therefore, that it is a hermitage capable of predicting earthquakes by housing this instrument to measure small tremors caused by the movements of the tectonic or lithospheric plates. It was invented in 1842 by Scottish physicist James David Forbes.
The chapel is located within the domains of Mas de la Mata, facing the Montcau hill. Some researchers place its origins between the 15th and 16th centuries, arguing that it was built by the owners of the farmhouse.
In 1517 an indulgence was made over the chapel of the La Mata farmhouse. Most of the documentation mentioned is from the mid-18th century; in 1755, in a document in which the Bishop of Vic grants indulgences to whoever visits it. A few years later, it was Pope Clement XIII who granted a bull of plenary indulgence (in 1761).
It was totally destroyed during the Carlist Wars and was seen in the mid-19th century, although earlier, in 1772, there are also reconstructions of the chapel, according to the Cultural Heritage Maps.
During the Spanish Civil War the image of Sant Jaume and the bell were damaged. The complex was restored in 1940. That same year the cult was restored, which is maintained today. The bell was removed in 1984 to prevent it from being stolen, but it ended up being stolen anyway.
