Although popular belief attributes the origin of the place name to bees, in reality it has nothing to do with these hymenopteran insects, since it comes from the Latin apiliaria, which means stone full of holes, which is precisely what we see abundantly in this rock shelter.

It seems that this corner has been a refuge for hermits since quite remote times; a plaque placed on one of the walls of the cave tells us that between the years 1484 and 1493 the Benedictine Fra Bernat Boïl stayed there. He was the first missionary who evangelised America and accompanied Columbus on his second voyage to the new world.

In the year 1574 the hermitage was blessed by the rector of Prades; in the year 1578 the bell tower was added and at the beginning of the 18th century many reforms were made; the hermitage was built with ashlars of red stone from the surrounding area.