{"id":3197,"date":"2026-09-16T09:23:43","date_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/?p=3197"},"modified":"2026-09-16T09:23:46","modified_gmt":"2026-09-16T09:23:46","slug":"theft-of-the-codex-calixtinus-the-story-of-the-most-famous-manuscript-of-the-camino-de-santiago","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/blog\/theft-of-the-codex-calixtinus-the-story-of-the-most-famous-manuscript-of-the-camino-de-santiago\/","title":{"rendered":"Theft of the Codex Calixtinus: the story of the most famous manuscript of the Camino de Santiago"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What is the Codex Calixtinus and why is it so important?<\/h2>\n\n

The Codex Calixtinus, known as the Liber Sancti Iacobi, is a compilation of texts from the 12th century preserved in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela. It is considered the oldest and most complete manuscript of the Camino de Santiago. Its compilation is attributed to Pope Callixtus II. <\/p>\n\n

The work is organized into five books that include sermons, hymns, miracles, and stories about the Apostle James. The most famous book is Book V, known as the “Pilgrim’s Guide,” which describes the route of the French Way, its landmarks, and offers advice. For this reason, it is considered “the first travel guide in European history” and the “DNA of the Camino de Santiago.” <\/p>\n\n

The theft of the Codex Calixtinus: how it disappeared<\/h2>\n\n
\"Theft<\/figure>\n\n

On July 5, 2011, the medievalist of the Cathedral archive was getting ready to close the archive when he stopped in front of the safe that housed the codex. He found it strange that the safe had the keys in it and could be opened without forcing it. Upon checking that it was empty, he called the dean, who hurried to the room. <\/p>\n\n

The theft seemed to be the work of a thief who knew the temple. There were no signs of violence, no footprints, no images captured by the security cameras, which did not point at the safe. Only three people had access to the key, which pointed to the thief being someone on the inside. <\/p>\n\n

The disappearance was described as “the theft of the century” or even “of the millennium.”<\/p>\n\n

The investigation into the theft of the Codex Calixtinus<\/h2>\n\n

The investigation had to proceed as quickly as possible. The Police’s greatest fear was that the manuscript could leave Spain. For this reason, the special unit drew up a list of 13 suspects from within the Cathedral. <\/p>\n\n

The case was marked by the Church’s secrecy. The police discovered a “war of cassocks” between opposing factions within the Cathedral. Chief Inspector Tenorio even confronted the powerful dean in order to find the codex. <\/p>\n\n

During the investigation, the police discovered that there was widespread theft in the Cathedral. The electrician revealed in his statements that everyone was stealing money in the temple; he even claimed that one worker had built a five-story building with the stolen money. <\/p>\n\n

The thief of the Codex Calixtinus: Jos\u00e9 Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez Casti\u00f1eiras<\/h2>\n\n

The perpetrator of the theft was a 60-year-old electrician who had worked at the Cathedral for 25 years, named Jos\u00e9 Manuel Fern\u00e1ndez Casti\u00f1eiras. He knew the Cathedral perfectly, and his motivation was revenge after being dismissed along with other workers; he tried to demand payment of 40,000 euros for unfair dismissal. <\/p>\n\n

What seemed like a professional heist ended up being the work of an electrician who lived 6 kilometers from the Cathedral. After his arrest, the electrician let loose, revealing multiple clerical gossip, from theft of donations to accusations of sexual abuse in the seminary. However, the Court of A Coru\u00f1a understood that there was no evidence to investigate these matters and closed the case. <\/p>\n\n

The recovery of the Codex Calixtinus<\/h2>\n\n
\"Theft<\/figure>\n\n

Exactly one year after the theft, the Police found the Codex in a garage in O Milladoiro, a town near Santiago. The discovery was made during a search of Casti\u00f1eiras’s family home. <\/p>\n\n

The discovery was fortuitous. When a pile of cement was broken open, the Codex appeared, wrapped in a cloth and surrounded by rubbish, but intact. Alongside the Codex, more than 1.2 million euros in cash, coins, and other items from the Cathedral were found, which revealed that thefts in the temple were a widespread practice. <\/p>\n\n

The trial and sentence for the theft of the Codex Calixtinus<\/h2>\n\n

The trial began in 2015. Casti\u00f1eiras confessed to the theft and was sentenced to 10 years in prison for a crime of theft with force of a rare and valuable book. His wife, his son, and his son’s partner were convicted for participation in the concealment of the manuscript. The sentence confirmed that the theft of the Codex Calixtinus was “an act of revenge” by a disgruntled worker. <\/p>\n\n

In 2025, the worker died while serving his sentence, closing the last chapter of a story that had stunned public opinion for years.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is the Codex Calixtinus and why is it so important? The Codex Calixtinus, known as the Liber Sancti Iacobi, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3196,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_joinchat":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sin-categorizar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3197"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3198,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3197\/revisions\/3198"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3196"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/elcaminoapedales.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}