The pandemic has left "at home" the usual and expected Holy Week processions throughout Spain. However, the week of the Passion, death and resurrection of the Lord will not pass in vain: dioceses, brotherhoods and confraternities, associations..., offer this year different possibilities to live, internally and externally, these days to the faithful.
Prayer and liturgical celebrations
The five resolutions of Bishop Cerro
Archbishop Francisco Cerro Chaves, Archbishop of Toledo, addressed a letter to his faithful titled "A Holy Week to return to the essentials".. In it, he proposes three keys for the next Holy Week "to identify ourselves in the Heart of Christ with the most suffering and vulnerable humanity". The Primate encourages his priests to prepare temples, churches, etc. with delicacy, "so that each person, family that comes to the celebrations, lives inside a different Holy Week, but not different from the essential". Likewise, the Archbishop of Toledo proposes five specific purposes for these coming days: a good confession, celebrating the mysteries of faith in the parish community, preparing the liturgical richness, visiting the monuments and living the various celebrations and exercises of piety such as "the Stations of the Cross, the holy hour, the sermon of the seven words, etc."
Seville: Meditating the Passion through the cathedral's heritage
The Archdiocese of Seville has launched for this Holy Week season "Passion of the Man-God": a series of contemplations of the mystery of the Redemption based on the heritage of the Cathedral of Seville, is the title of eight reflections in audiovisual format to deepen the mystery of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord during this Holy Week 2021.
The videos, produced by the Media Delegation, were based on technical documentation prepared by the Cultural Heritage Delegation in collaboration with the Institución Colombina of the Archdiocese of Seville and are approximately five minutes long.
The meditations cover a hundred or so selected works with plans, meditations and biblical texts on the following themes The Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, The Last Supper, Gethsemanethe Trial of Jesus, Jesus on the road to Calvary, Christ on the Cross, from the Cross to the Sepulcher and the Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Through sensory perceptions, the viewer will have a valuable resource that will be useful to deepen reflection and personal prayer, these days in which the liturgy proposes recollection and inner silence.
Valencia: "Manual to live Easter Week 2021".
The Diocesan Delegation of Liturgy of the Archbishopric of Valencia has prepared materials to prepare and live Holy Week and Easter this year, which are included in the "Manual to live Holy Week 2021". These are texts, guides, prayers and readings, which will help the faithful to prepare Holy Week in person in the temples and parishes and also from home - following the transmissions by internet - in those cases of disabled, sick or elderly people or those who, due to the circumstances of the pandemic, must remain at home.
The most complicated procession
All the Brotherhoods and Brotherhoods of our country live these days complicated moments. The sanitary restrictions have forced to suspend the own stations of penitence of the Holy Week. The cults in their temples and the special preparation of the Easter Triduum are marking a Holy Week again atypical.
Exhibitions and displays
Numerous cities with a wide ornamental and devotional heritage offer these days exhibitions open to all those who wish to visit it in which images, textiles, ornaments and various elements typical of the Holy Week processions are shown.
An example of this can be found in Cadiz, with the exhibition "Cofrade".A story of faith"The exhibition, organized by the Cajasol Foundation in collaboration with the Local Council of Brotherhoods of Cadiz and the delegation of Culture of the Board, which can be visited from Wednesday until April 4 in the courtyard of the provincial museum of Cadiz. Likewise, Seville has a sample these days. "In Nomine Dei"also an initiative of the Cajasol Foundation and the Council of Brotherhoods of Seville, brings together some 250 pieces from the 70 penitential brotherhoods of the Andalusian capital and shows from works of goldsmithing or jewelry as well as ornamental sculpture and secondary figures of the steps of Seville. From among the Castilian capitals, the Royal Palace of Valladolid hosts until next April 4 the exhibition "Valladolid Holy Week 2021″.. The exhibition is composed of two photographic exhibitions and a model of the Good Friday procession of Valladolid. The highlight of this exhibition is undoubtedly the presence of the "Christ of the Mission", property of the Agrupación de Apoyo Logístico 61, which is venerated in the Royal Palace.
Itineraries
Madrid
The Archdiocese of Madrid is one of those that encourages pilgrimages to the various places of worship in the capital where the images that traditionally process through the streets of the capital these days are located. In fact, these images can be visited until Holy Saturday, April 3, and the Archdiocese has prepared a small map to consult the location of the temples. Images as dear as Jesus the Poor, the Divine Captive, the Sorrows or the Christ of the Alabarderos can go to see and pray before them during these days.
Madrid Processional Guide of Nártex
Also in Madrid, the initiative launched by the Nartéx Association, which specializes in projects and activities aimed at deepening the authentic meaning of Christian art, is being developed with its Madrid Processional Guide through which you can follow an itinerary consisting of six stops, where you can learn about six works that deal with the Passion of the Lord in the capital of Madrid. The guide explains, from an artistic and devotional point of view and with little known details, the pictorial work of the Last Supper, from the Monastery of Corpus Christi (Carboneras) and the images of the Holy Christ of Health, which is in the Royal Parish of San Ginés, Our Father Jesus of Health, guarded in the Church of Carmen and San Luis Obispo, the carving of María Santísima de la Esperanza Macarena of the Colegiata de San Isidro, the Santísimo Cristo de la Fe y del Perdón, which can be seen in the Basílica de San Miguel and the Cristo Yacente that is in the Benedictine Sisters of San Plácido.
Malaga Nazarene
Malaga has also changed its processional outings by visiting the incumbents in their temples. In this line are framed itineraries collected in Malaga Nazarena, made by the Department of Tourism of the City of Malaga and the Association of Brotherhoods of Holy Week, through which it seeks to promote, publicize and enhance, permanently, the universe of brotherhoods that the capital of Malaga treasures. All this through 6 circuits that, properly signposted and through QR codes that offer data, historical reviews ... etc..
Step by Step, through Burgos
Some of the brotherhoods that integrate the Board of the Holy Week of Burgos exhibit these days some of its steps in their respective parish churches. In this way, the burgaleses will be able to venerate the most significant carvings of the Holy Week. Among the parishes that have so far joined the initiative are San José Obrero (who already has his image of the Descent from the Cross on permanent display), San Gil Abad (with the Virgen de los Dolores and the Santo Cristo de las Gotas), San Lorenzo, San Cosme y San Damián (with the Cristo de la Salud, the Virgen de las Angustias and the Cristo Chamarilero), San Pedro de la Fuente (with the Oración en el Huerto and the Virgen de los Dolores), San Lesmes (with its Crucified Christ and its Black Christ), Santa Águeda (with the Virgin of Solitude), San Nicolás (with the Passage of the Flagellation and the Virgin of Joy), the Catholic Circle (Christ tied to the column), San Martín de Porres (with the Kiss of Judas), Nuestra Señora de Fátima (with the carving of the Virgin of Mercy and Hope), Sagrada Familia (Resurrected Christ) and the Cathedral (with the Holy Christ of Burgos).
