The Tradition of Bee Ovens in the Churches of Soria

The year is 1859. The inhabitants of Ucero, a small village in the province of Soria, have an extraordinary religious fervor for an image, the Virgin of Villavieja. However, the hermitage that shelters her has collapsed. The priest must do the impossible to rebuild the temple and, in fact, he would have the sufficient budget if the parishioners had paid their dues to the parish on time. Since demanding the debt all at once would ruin the economy of the faithful, the parish priest comes up with a creative solution, which he sends to the bishop of the diocese of Osma-Soria in a letter: the neighbors will contribute the labor and materials for the restoration, which will be completed “with the proceeds from some sales of the oven.”