Paula was a young woman of extraordinary beauty, born in the nearby town of Cardeñosa during the dark first centuries of the Middle Ages. In addition to her fine bearing, she proved to be a paragon of virtue, as she helped others with great diligence, being a hard worker. To make a living, she went daily to the city to sell the vegetables she harvested herself. And since the path she used led to the hermitage of San Segundo, she took the opportunity to pray, as she was deeply religious.
Her presence was known to many who used the bridge that spans the course of the Adaja River, and she was loved and respected by all of them. However, there are always some who harbor bad intentions: a young knight had become captivated by Paula and persistently tried to approach her, soliciting her and throwing lustful words at her, which were inappropriate to be uttered by a knight and even less to be heard by a lady. To all of this, the maiden responded negatively, trying to distance the stalker.
But the path used by Paula was lonely in some sections, and one day the scoundrel, who cannot be called a knight, blocked her way with his mount. She started to run and hid in the nearby hermitage of San Lázaro. Desperate because she noticed how the aforementioned individual was approaching, she asked God to “grant her some deformity upon her face,” and from her face a dense beard immediately grew, “as thick and well-formed as if she were a man.”
The malicious criminal entered the hermitage and only found a hermit, whom he asked if he had seen the young woman. Paula replied no, and despite his insistence, he left the hermitage without being able to consummate his aberrant purposes. Following this miraculous event, Paula moved her residence to the hermitage of San Segundo, where she lived the rest of her days (she passed away shortly after) dedicated to prayer and helping others. In that very place, she was buried beneath a side altar, to the right of the high altar, guarded by a grate under the inscription:
“This altarpiece grate was ordered to be made by the magnificent Doña Isabel de Ribera, daughter of the knight of Valderrabano, in honor of Saint Paula the Bearded, made in the year 1547. It is said that she died at the age of 17, on a 20th of February.”
Declared a Saint, she is the patron saint of her homeland.
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