Mass sung by Gatamoix

We humans are the sum of the stories we have inherited and those we have lived. We are also the stories of others. Today we want to share a special, different story: that of people who lived and died in the agricultural colony of Gatamoix at the end of the 19th century. We also want to tell you the odyssey of the La Trobe-Bateman family, English people who came from Northern Europe, who built, furnished, and maintained the colony until, in December 1893, they had to return to London and leave the houses and land they had built in the hands of others. So much life and death have been given to us throughout time.

We are aware that time and social evolution help us to distort or misrepresent how we interpret past events. But there is a kind of red thread that has reached us today, a need for restorative justice that has been stifled by silence for over a century. This thread has allowed us to hear again a sung Mass celebrated as an expression of gratitude by humble, day-laboring people who always lived through a harsh and difficult time. They knew that the departure of the English would, sooner or later, change their lives, and so it did. The sung Mass in the chapel of Gatamoix, written by Miquel Mas i Sabater, was the turning point toward an uncertain future.

"Gatamoix! What a strange name!", he wrote in the magazine His Marsh Vicar Joan Parera in October 1924. Today, what remains of the Gatamoix colony, or Poble Nou, as the people of Alcudia prefer to call it, goes largely unnoticed in the dense forest at the foot of Sant Martí hill. Only one house remains standing, a silent witness to a past when the bells of the chapel built by Lee La Trobe-Bateman rang out; children ran and played around it, while the adults struggled to survive in a harsh and difficult environment. We don't know why the engineer Waring chose that spot to build a colony, such a rugged and challenging place, with little drinking water or irrigation, and no good land to cultivate. Nothing was easy, as we have said. Josep Lluís Riera told me how the children easily died of pneumonia or malnutrition. Their names appear, one after another, in the Alcudia burial register: Joana Aina Vives, two years old; Magdalena Aloy Mascarolles, six years old; and her brother Sebastián... To die of hunger, of starvation, must be terrible.

Two years ago, a childhood friend, Bernat Aguiló, placed in my hand an old score of a Latin Mass that had been sung in Gatamoix in December 1893. It was the moment of the departure of the young married couple, Beatriz and Luis; wolves had devoured them along the way. It must have been a bitter and sorrowful song. Fortunately, the magic of life has been fulfilled, and this coming November 15th, we will hear that sung Mass again, thanks to the excellent work of Martí Sáez, Bárbara Duran, and the choir of Sa Pobla. Don't you think it's an extraordinary gift? Bernat's mother, Catalina Siquier, and his godfather, Joan Siquier, who was the organist of the parish of Sa Pobla during the first half of the 20th century, carefully preserved this score for over 130 years. The work was most likely written by Miquel Mas, a multifaceted man who, among other things, was a pianist, organist, primary school teacher, and ran a pharmacy. It seems he acquired his musical knowledge at the Lluc monastery and also through the teachings of his father, Guillermo.

But the story doesn't end there. Throughout the years of research, we had discussed the possibility of finding descendants of the La Trobe-Bateman family. Well, we didn't find them, but they found us. A family directly descended from John Frederic settled in Mallorca a few months ago and began to notice the place names of canals, bridges, and streets that bore his name. They quickly connected the dots and found us: first in Biel Perelló, in the Albufera Natural Park, and then me. The relationship has developed naturally, and they are discovering a legacy they were completely unaware of. That's life. The chapel in Gatamoix where the score was heard was 60 palms long by 30 palms wide, and not very tall, despite its pointed roof. It had two windows with beautiful stained glass on each side, and another window above the main altar. Above the altar was a very beautiful figure of the Immaculate Conception, surrounded by rich damask fabrics. On the altar stood six valuable candlesticks, and beneath the three steps, luxurious carpets, creating a rich and solemn ensemble. The walls were adorned with small Gothic-style paintings of the Stations of the Cross, painted by the son of the painter Faust Morell. Inside the sacristy, as small as it was exquisite, were chests of drawers containing a monstrance and a valuable, classical ciborium, richly decorated in the English style and commissioned by English lords.

The last tribute paid to the La Trobe-Bateman family by the villagers and the people of the Albufera region was in 1886. On Gran Street, at the house of the steward Pere A. Serra of Can Corró, myrtle branches were scattered along the path; lunch was a hearty affair. Old Bateman gave a speech of gratitude to the villagers, and they began the process of naming him their Favorite Son. There was no shortage of traditional dances and gorgollassa wine. It was high time they were remembered.

You are cordially invited to enjoy this tribute and sung Mass on November 15th at 8 pm in the parish church of San Antonio Abad in Sa Pobla. Francesc Xisco Lillo and Pep Lluís Riera will present the historical and social narrative of this beautiful and tragic story.