The seroras were stationed at shrines and parish churches across the Basque Country and Navarre. Hired and licensed in a capacity much like sacristans, their work was prestigious and crucial to the smooth functioning of local religious life. A number of their former homes survive, such as the monasterio-hospital here in Velate. In the early modern period, Velate was crossed by a major highway that connected the French Basque Country with Navarre, and the seroras would have been busy ministering to those pilgrims, travelers, soldiers, and merchants who passed by.
