Among Demon Stories and Hidden Treasures
Among Demon Stories and Hidden Treasures
Among Demon Stories and Hidden Treasures
If you travel to Quito, one of the city's main attractions is visiting the colonial historic downtown, home of a magnificent architectural masterpiece: the San Francisco church and convent, built by the Franciscans between the years of 1550 and 1680. Next to the building, there is an ancient house that was turned into a church dedicated to the Virgin of Dolorosa. A few more than 50 years ago, during the restoration works of the church's floor, an underground vault made of bricks with human bones dispersed on the ground was found. It was then when the old legend of the Cantua indigene came back to life. That man used to live in that house during the colonial years, and everybody in Ecuador knows about him. Every Ecuadorian can tell his own version of the famous legend to whoever willing to hear about it.
It is said that Cantua was hired by the Franciscans to build a church in Quito in only six months, in exchange of a great amount of money. Even though it seemed impossible to build the whole church in such little time, Cantua agreed to do it. He gathered a group of indigenes who started working as hard as they could. However, the construction was not going as fast as it had to. On the day before the deadline for the building to be finished, Cantua was completely desperate, knowing that his work was not going to be finished on time. That night, when he was already thinking that he would go to jail, a figure dressed in red appeared. He said he was the devil, and offered him to finish the church in exchange of his soul. Cantua agreed and, at that moment, a countless army of demons appeared and started working very fast on the building. At the end of the night, the church was almost finished. Cantua, fearing for his soul, sneaked among the working demons and, on the last stone to be put on the construction, he wrote: "whoever puts this stone in place, will admit that God is greater than him". When the demons were about to put that last stone in the building, they realized what was written on it and left it aside. The new day came and the devil could not accomplish his part of the deal, so the indigene saved his soul and the devil went away, leaving behind just a strong sulfur smell.
Cantua's bones were found in the church and he was subject of this great fantastic story, so people have wondered who he really was. The story says that Cantua was the son of Hualca, an indigene who fought with the Incan general Rumianui's army against the Spanish invasion. The army set on fire the area that is nowadays the city of Quito and hid the Incan's gold treasure, so wanted by the conquistadors' greed. Fearing of his death, Hualca told his son where the treasure was hidden. The story had a twist because Cantua got burned during the fire and became crippled. He was taken in and adopted by a Spanish called Hernn Surez, with whom he lived in the house that was to become the Dolorosa Church. Cantua, as an act of gratitude, revealed him the treasure's location and all that gold was secretly melted in their house's underground vault and spent in luxurious whims. When Surez died, Cantua inherited the treasure and started donating it to the Franciscans for the construction of the current San Francisco de Quito Church.
What about the devil? Well, the story says that the contributions Cantua made to the Franciscans were so big that the authorities, not knowing the origin of such big amounts of money, decided to interrogate him. Cantua never revealed his father's secret, but he decided to get rid of everything by confessing to the astonished monks that he had made a deal with the devil who, in exchange of his soul, had given him all the money he wanted. As time went by, the famous legend of Cantua was created.
Back in the modern Quito, you will find the famous church and convent of San Francisco de Quito, that curiously has a missing stone corresponding to the water canal that should be placed in the northern front of the wall that surrounds the construction. Next to it, you will find the Dolorosa Church, known nowadays as the Cantua Church.
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