Sant Josep Oriol (1650-1702) is a pure-blooded Barcelona saint who led a life full of vicissitudes. He was the only one among eight siblings not to die during childhood, lived a life of austerity, was known as ‘Doctor Bread and Water’ as that was his only sustenance, was completely devoted to looking after others and spent a large part of his life and all his savings on helping the sick and the poor in the city. As a good saint, miracles are also attributed to him, mostly relating to curing the sick.

However, the most famous of all is remembered at the Pi local festival and tells how he turned a radish into coins, accounting for the saint’s way of doing things. Legend has it that in 1698 Sant Josep Oriol decided be a missionary and embarked on a pilgrimage to the Vatican. He was accompanied on the first part of his journey by a worker named Bonaventura Bellescà. They stopped at a hostel in what is now Montcada i Reixac because Ballescà wanted to eat. Ravenously hungry and confident that Josep Oriol, who always helped the poor, would pay for whatever he ate, Bonaventura ate as much as could. However, when it was time to pay the bill he realised that as usual Josep Oriol didn’t have any money on him at all. Seeing the problem, the legend goes that the future saint took a radish and cut it up, turning the slices into enough coins to pay for the meal.

This scene, known as the coin miracle, is remembered every year at the Festa Major del Pi, in the neighbourhood of Sant Josep Oriol. The coins are actually the quintessential food for the festivities: chocolate coins are made for the occasion with the image of the Pi giant on one side and the face of Sant Josep Oriol on the other. These very special coins are available at some of the festival acts: the proclamation speech, when the coin miracle is remembered, during the Oriols stroll, at the crowning moment when the wreath is lifted and during the story of the highwayman Perot lo Lladre.