ABSTRACT
The demographical growth of the eleventh and thirteenth centuries was a truly important help in the development of pilgrimage movement and we all know examples of several monasteries with infirmaries and inns to help all the pilgrims'. According to a marble inscription in the church of Marmelar, the medieval monastery was built precisely in 125834 by a friar of Saint John, the already mentioned Afonso Pires Farinha. The Order of Saint John chose Marmelar to perform one of the most notable achievements of its memory and of Portuguese remembrance the veneration of the relic of the True Cross, associated to the Battle of Salado which occurred in 1340. In general, the cult of the Holy Cross was widespread in Medieval Portugal. Lastly, the knights of Marmelar envisaged the project expressed by the Order of Saint John to which they belonged.
