The extraordinary departure of the Arrest and the First Pain on Easter Monday makes the city the place where the processions also end later
Holy Week in Cartagena prides itself on lasting ten days and being the earliest riser in Spain with its procession of the Cristo del Socorro in the early hours of Friday of Sorrows. But, exceptionally, this 2023 will have eleven days, as the president of the Board of Brotherhoods, Marién García Boj, said in La Llamada. Because it will also be the one that draws the curtain at the national level on these religious celebrations thanks to an anniversary of the California Brotherhood. The central wings of the church of Santa María de Gracia will not close definitively, until the following year, when the Virgen del Amor Hermoso completes her reunion with Cartagena around three in the afternoon of the next Easter Sunday, as is customary. . One day later, on Easter Monday, Jesús Prendido and the Virgen del Primer Dolor will once again pass through the ramp of the temple on Calle del Aire on the occasion of an extraordinary commemorative procession of the 275th anniversary of the first Californio Holy Wednesday.
The Pontifical, Royal and Illustrious Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus in the Sorrowful Step of Arrest and Hope for the Salvation of Souls, popularly known as the California Brotherhood, was established on June 13, 1747. But it was on April 10 of the following year , Holy Wednesday, when it took its main devotional images in procession for the first time.
The Bishopric of Cartagena has already given the go-ahead so that on Monday, in an extraordinary way, the Californios can commemorate that event. The procession will begin at eight in the evening. The image of the Arrest, without the two sayons of it, will come out on a litter, just like the Virgin of the First Sorrow. They will be accompanied by two small thirds of penitents illuminated by wax light. The one of Jesus will wear simple red tunics, girded with a girdle, and a black hood. That of the Virgin, blue tunics, also with a cincture, and the characteristic silver tissue hoods of her third of hoods on Holy Wednesday. They will not wear capes. Between both images the Group of Roman Soldiers will parade, just like on that first occasion.
violins and a choir
In the absence of documents that allow us to know the primitive route of Holy Wednesday, the Mesa Board chaired by Juan Carlos de la Cerra, prepares an itinerary through the streets through which the parades pass or used to pass: Aire, Cañón, Mayor, Plaza de San Sebastián, Honda, Balcones Azules, Ignacio García, Plaza de San Francisco, San Antonio el Pobre, Plaza de San Ginés, Cuatro Santos, Jara, San Miguel and Aire. The musical accompaniment will be provided by drums, a group of violins and, probably, a choir that will interpret the miserere to the Arrest.
The California Brotherhood will commemorate on April 10 through the streets of downtown the 275 years of its first Holy Wednesday
“We are very excited and we want to invite all the Californian brothers to accompany the Arrest and the Virgin that night dressed in their Nazarene tunic,” said the older brother.
Holy Week in Cartagena will begin on Dolores Friday, March 31, at dawn with the penitential Stations of the Cross of the Most Holy and Real Cristo del Socorro, considered the first procession in Spain. And it organizes parades every day until Easter Sunday, except for Passion Saturday, a day dedicated to the solemn transfers of images between temples and buildings to which they are linked.
This year, the Marraja Brotherhood recovers on that day of transition and the eve of Palm Sunday the transfer of the Virgen de la Soledad de los Pobres. Although instead of doing it from San Diego, as before, he will leave at 8:10 p.m. from the Perpetual Adoration chapel of the parish of San Antonio María Claret, where he now receives worship. The Marian sculpture by Juan González Moreno will be taken to Santa María.
#Holy #Week #Cartagena #days