Valdeviejas itself is just a suburb of Astorga which you pass by almost unoticed. However, at the exit to Valdeviejas is a 16th century hermitage/chapel dedicated to Ecce Homo (42.45915, -6.08100).

Ecce Homo comes from the Latin translation of John’s Gospel (19:5). This is when Pontius Pilate after having had Jesus scourged and crowned with thorns shows the degraded Jesus to the baying crowd with the words “Behold the Man”. Subsequently, many Christians have prayed and paid adoration to this humbled image of Christ at his lowest point. This is a moment of great import in his victory over death and sin.

The legend for this hermitage is that a pilgrim stopped at this well to drink but her son fell in the well. The pilgrim immediately prayed to Ecce Homo and with a great surge of water the child was washed up and out of the well to safety. Thus, leading to the inscription “Give alms pilgrim to Ecce Homo and you will immediately know how to get out of your problems”. Whether you believe in the legend or not, the chapel is beautiful, the stamp is pretty and the fountain very welcome.