San Benito County, California

San Benito County is a county located in the Coast Range Mountains of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 55,269. The county seat is Hollister.

San Benito County is included in the San Jose-Sunnyvale-Santa Clara, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA Combined Statistical Area.

El Camino Real passes through the county and includes one mission in San Juan Bautista.

History

San Benito County was formed from parts of Monterey County in 1874.

The county is named after the San Benito Valley. Father Juan Crespí, in his expedition in 1772, named a small river in honor of San Benedicto (Saint Benedict), the patron saint of the married, and it is from the contraction of this name that the county took its name.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 1,390 square miles (3,600 km²), of which 1,389 square miles (3,600 km²) is land and 1.8 square miles (4.7 km²) (0.1%) is water.

Sanbenito

Sanbenito (Spanish: sambenito;Catalan: gramalleta, sambenet) was a penitential garment that was used especially during the Spanish Inquisition. It was similar to a scapular, either yellow with red St. Andrew's crosses for penitent heretics or black and decorated with friars, dragons and devils for impenitent heretics to wear at an auto da fé (meaning "act of faith").

Etymology

"San Benito" is the Spanish name of Saint Benedict. An alternative etymology by Covarrubias and former editions of the Diccionario de la Real Academia Española has it from saco bendito ("blessed sack"). Américo Castro "proved that it does not come from saco bendito".

Description and use

González Obregon describes the three basic types of tunics used to distinguish those being punished by the Inquisition. These were the Samarra, Fuego revolto, and the Sambenito. The Samarra was used by those condemned to death, frequently through the burning at the stake; it featured painted dragons, devils, and flames amongst which the image of the prisoner could be distinguished. The Fuego revolto was used for those who had repented. The flames would be painted downwards, thus indicating that they had escaped death through fire. Finally there was the Sambenito used commonly by those in penitence and which featured the saltires, eventually became known to designate all three types.

San Benito

San Benito can refer to:

See also

San Benito, Entre Ríos

San Benito is a village and municipality in Entre Ríos Province in north-eastern Argentina.

References

Coordinates: 31°47′S 60°26′W / 31.783°S 60.433°W / -31.783; -60.433