Catalina Lercaro
Catalina Lercaro (Catherine Lercaro), 16th century, was an Italian-Canarian woman of the Lercaro family. She was renowned in the city of San Cristóbal de La Laguna (Tenerife, Canary Islands, Spain).
The Lercaro were an important family of Genoese merchants, who were based in Tenerife after the Castillian conquest.[1]
Catalina, daughter of Antonio Lercaro and his wife, was forced to marry an older man, who enjoyed a good position and great wealth. This arranged marriage did not please Catalina, who on her wedding day killed herself by leaping into a pit that was located in the courtyard of the family mansion. (Since 1993, this building has been operated as the Museum of the History of Tenerife).[2] The legend suggests that Catalina's body was interred in one of the rooms in the house. Because she committed the sin of suicide, the Catholic Church prohibited her receiving a Christian burial in a consecrated cemetery.[3] The Lercaro family left the city and moved La Orotava. Since then many people claim to have seen the specter of Catalina Lercaro walking through the mansion (now the museum).
Catalina Lercaro is the most famous ghost of the Canary Islands. Her ghost story is also known in Spain. The mansion where she died is the most famous "haunted mansion" on the islands.[citation needed]
References
- ^ El fantasma de Catalina Lercaro. Curiosidades y leyendas de la historia lagunera.
- ^ "Palacio Lercaro en Web Tenerife". Página Web de turismo de Tenerife, .d.
- ^ El fantasma de Catalina Archived 2009-11-10 at the Wayback Machine
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