Calle de Santa Hortensia

The name evokes a saint of whom barely a firm trace has survived. Her feast is celebrated on 11 January and tradition places her among the martyrs of the early centuries of Christianity, but her biography moves in hazy ground, with no verifiable facts. The one clear thing is the root of the name: the Latin hortensius, derived from hortus, the orchard or garden. Hortensia means one who tends or dwells in the garden, even before the flower of the same name popularised the term. Why Prosperidad chose this particular saint to name the street has not been documented. Santa Hortensia crosses a district born around 1862, when Próspero, the owner who gave the area its name, parcelled out some farmland. The street map was then woven with the names of saints and devotions, a common custom in the outskirts growing beyond the old urban limit. Homes from that first moment still stand, modest brick and tile buildings that today coexist with far more recent blocks.