THE FARMER’S GUILD OF SANT ANTONI ABAD
The Sant Antoni Farmer’s Guild is without a doubt the oldest confraternity that takes part in Tortosa’s Easter Week celebrations, as it is a direct descendant of the guild which dates back to at least 1363, when records show that it was based at the Monastery of Santa Clara. As such, it is the only survivor of the old guild structure of the procession. The primitive confraternity church, thought to date back to the 15th Century, was located on the site where the Convent of the Puríssima Concepció Victòria now stands.
The 16th Century was the age of the greatest prosperity for this guild and, in the early 17th Century, it was decided to build a new, and supposedly much bigger, church on the same site. The person in charge of building it was Martí d'Abaria i Alaiz. Bishop Veschi acquired the church in the 1740s to construct the Reial Monestir de la Puríssima (Royal Monastery of the Immaculate Conception). Subsequently, the confraternity went on to build a new church on the same street Carrer Montcada, of which the ruined remains can still be seen. Due to the destruction of the guild’s archive in the summer of 1936, which was located next to the church, there are now very few historical details available about this veritable civic and religious institution. Right up to the 1990s, the statues of the Procession of the Passion were almost all stored at the site until, after a short period in the courtyard of the Casa Diocesana, they were placed in the former school on Carrer Montcada from 1998 onwards. In other periods, the confraternity’s importance can be seen by the fact that the grandeur or meagerness of the participation in the procession depended on the quality of the harvest. Traditionally, the Penitents accompanied the procession statue of the Vegetable Garden (clearly related to their trade), wearing their own clothes. Recently, in order to match the other Nazarenes, they have designed for themselves a tunic to wear.
The procession statue keeps the tradition of the olive-growing region alive, consisting of planting an olive branch upright by the procession statue. It is planted in such a way that Christ’s image is kept in the shade. First and foremost, the people responsible for the procession statue have always tried to ensure that the slender branch is magnificent.
GERMANDAT DE NATZARENS DE LA MARE DE DÉU DEL ROSER (BROTHERHOOD OF NAZARENES OF OUR LADY OF THE ROSARY)
During the early Middle Ages, the worship of Our Lady of the Rosary was closely related to the Order of Preachers, or the Dominican Order. From the 16th Century onwards, there was a proliferation of confraternities dedicated to Mary under this title, headed by the parish priest. The Church of the Rosary (Església del Roser) is from the modern age, located on Tortosa’s riverfront, due to the construction of the ramps of the Pont de l’Estat bridge, another church was built in the neighbourhood of Ferreries, where the confraternity is based, with a rose as its emblem.
CONFRARIA DE LA PURÍSSIMA SANG (CONFRATERNITY OF THE BLESSED BLOOD)
The veneration of Christ’s blood dates back to the 14th Century. In Tortosa, as in Barcelona, confraternities were established with this function from the 16th Century onwards. Specifically, alongside the Confraria de Sant Antoni dels Pagesos (Farmer’s confraternity of Saint Anthony), the Tortosa confraternity of the Blessed Blood is the oldest of all those which take part in the Palm Sunday Procession. Its origins date back to the 27th of June 1558, when it was founded in the church of the Convent de Sant Domènec (Convent of Saint Dominic). Probably due to the increase in the number of brethren, from the late 1570s or early 1580s, the confraternity was able to have its own chapel and meeting place. Located on the corner of the street of the same name and the modern-day Avinguda de la Generalitat, this ancient Church of the Blessed Blood (Església de la Puríssima Sang) was demolished in 1930. The church was the focal point of all of the processional activities that are generally considered to be the oldest predecessors of the modern procession. In volume nº. 14 of the record entries of the County Historic Archive of the Terres de l’Ebre region, the entry shows that the Confraria de la Santíssima e Puríssima Sanch del Cos Preciós de Nostre Senyor Déu Jesuchrist (Confraternity of the Blessed Blood of the Body of Our Lord God Jesus Christ) applied for registration on 4th of June 1587 and was approved on the 23rd of the same month for a period of eight years from the date of approval. In the tenth and eleventh of the twenty-four articles, it stipulates that the confraternity is in charge of organizing and supervising the Procession of the Flagellants on Holy Thursday. The traders, who had formed part of the Germandat del Sant Àngel (Brotherhood of the Holy Angel) before the Civil War, formed their brotherhood under this name with its highly evocative roots from 1941 onwards.
GERMANDAT DE NATZARENS DE LA PASSIÓ (BROTHERHOOD OF THE NAZARENES OF THE PASSION)
The origins of this brotherhood are clear from its epithet, Antics Alumnes dels Germans de les Escoles Cristianes (Former Pupils of the Christian Schools). Built in 1907, the schools of Sant Joan de la Salle became some of the most highly-respected education institutions in our counties. The large number of pupils who studied at the schools, and who maintained a relationship with them after finishing their studies, led to the organization of a confraternity of former pupils. The pupils who were still of school age accessed the confraternity with the status of postulants and wore hoodless habits with a white ruff.
CONFRARIA DE MARIA IMMACULADA (CONFRATERNITY OF MARY THE IMMACULATE)
With Mary’s traditional colours and initials, this guild, known as the Congregació Mariana Major (Greater Congregation of Mary), is directly related to the Patronat Escolar Obrer de la Sagrada Família (Worker’s School Trust of the Holy Family). This Christian social centre is the base of the brotherhood that devotes its general and historical worship to the Mother of God. Built in 1958, the procession statue represents the passage in which Jesus Christ, already crucified says to John with reference to Mary: “Here is your mother" (Ecce mater tua).
CONFRARIA DEL SANT CRIST DE LA PURÍSSIMA (CONFRATERNITY OF HOLY CHRIST OF THE IMMACULATE MOTHER)
This confraternity was founded in 1941 with the purpose of carrying and safeguarding the image of Christ displayed in the church of the Reial Monestir de la Puríssima Concepció Victòria (Royal Monastery of the Immaculate Conception). The statue of Christ of the Immaculate Mother, carved in wood in the 17th Century, which was ordered by Bishop Veschi to be brought from Naples and made by Innocenci de Palerm, hasalways had great following, it wasespecially prayed to for rain. However, the statue never took part in the Palm Sunday Procession, until the circumstances made it possible after the end of the Civil War. The statue of Christ that is carried in the process is a copy of the one that is worshipped to in the Royal Monastery. The habit is intended to imitate the one worn by the nuns in the convent.
GERMANDAT DE NATZARENS DE LES CINC NAFRES (BROTHERHOOD OF NAZARENES OF THE FIVE WOUNDS)
To trace the origins of the worship of Jesus Christ’s five wounds, we have to go back to the start of the Franciscan Order which, since the 13th Century, has advocated the veneration of the stigmata of the Passion as one of the most representative signs of the order. However, there is no evidence of a link between this Order and the Tortosa Medicant Order. It seems that it dates back to the confraternity being overhauled in 1930, when it was dedicated to the banking sector, which had gained particular significance in the city since the foundation of the Banc de Tortosa in 1881 and the Banco de España. However, the Brotherhood already had, in 1859, a processional statue representing Jesus being taken down from the Cross, a sculpture by Ramon Cerveto, which was destroyed in 1936.
Work to build the replacement procession statue began in 1950, with the piece being inaugurated in 1952. The artist was the world-renowned sculptor from Vilassar de Mar, Enric Monjo Garriga (1896-1976). The sculpture was financed by contributions from the commercial and savings banks established in the city, as well as the membership fees of the brethren. The processional statue is different to the others, with bold colours, as the entire ensemble is multicoloured, with a significant Spanish influence.
Coinciding with the inauguration of the processional statue, in 1952, the primitive habits were abandoned and 80 new habits were made (they did away with the scapular with the cross on the chest and changed the maroon pointed cap and cape for the current black one. The grey tunic remains the same). In 1995, a deliberate fire left the platform, accessories and electrical installation of the processional statue in a very bad condition. Fortunately, however, it hardly affected the artistic ensemble itself. In 1996, a provisional board was created to assess the damage. In 1997, the Germandat de les Cinc Nafres (Brotherhood of the Five Wounds) was reformed and, thanks to the efforts of the head brother, Enric Mascarell, it obtained formal recognition from the courts and the Diocese of Tortosa.
The processional statue is pushed by eight of the brethren due to its great weight (including seven life-sized figures). The Brotherhood’s ensign is extremely old.
VENERABLE CONGREGACIÓ DE LA MARE DE DÉU DELS DOLORS (VENERABLE CONGREGATION OF OUR LADY OF THE SORROWS)
The key and central role that this confraternity has played is evident, having taken responsibility for organizing the event for many years. The worship of Our Lady of the Sorrows spread across Catalonia from the 17th Century through the Servite Order. In Tortosa, a church being founded with this name underlined the importance of this confraternity, the purpose of which is to commemorate Mary’s suffering. As shown in the records of the Congregation’s minutes, its first known act dates back to 1724.
PLEASE NOTE
In this transcription of the articles by Albert Curto Homedes, the director of the County’s Historic Archive of the Terres de l’Ebre region, and the historian Hilari Muñoz, I have added a correction as they did not mention that the current Christ of the Immaculate Conception that is carried in the procession is a copy of the original made by the Aixendri brothers in Tortosa in the 1950s, when the authentic version stopped taking part in the procession, highlighting the counter-reform doctrine). In addition, I have enhanced the article with personal contributions.
One of the most characteristic uses of the Palm Sunday Procession has led to the Brotherhood of the Nazarene giving out sweets to the people who attend the procession. This is an eastern tradition that, in Catalonia, is only observed in Tortosa. It seems that its original purpose was to remove the bad taste from people’s mouths left by seeing the suffering of Our Lord embodied in the procession statues that are carried.
Under the mandate of Bishop Ricart Maria Carles, who went on to become the Archbishop of Barcelona and a Cardinal, the statutes of the Association of Easter Week Confraternities were approved in 1980. This was a decisive factor in the modern resurgence of the local traditions related to Easter Week traditions related.
On the initiative of the councillor Gaspar Ricard and with social collaboration, in 1996, the Association was given its own ensign. It was designed by Josep Lluis Ginovart. It was also at this time that the confraternity of the Association of the Residents of Santa Clara was created, which carries the procession statue of Pilate, which had been orphaned.
In 1999, the Palm Sunday Procession debuted a new Passion statue of the Mother of God of the Sorrows from the Brotherhood of the Immaculate Blood. At 19:00 on Sunday 21st March, at the Plaça de la Immaculada in the parish of Sant Jaume de Remolins, the new procession statue was blessed. The event was chaired by the Right Reverend Bishop of Tortosa, Father Xavier Salinas. Àngel Acosta, the creator of the sculpture, was named as the Elder Brother of the Brotherhood.
That same year, the renovation of the processional statues by the Association of Confraternities was seen for the first time, completed with the collaboration of the Provincial Council of Tarragona. The work was performed by the Escola Taller d'Arts Aplicades i Oficis de Tortosa (Workshop College of Applied Arts and Trades of Tortosa) under the supervision of the highly-respected restorer and teacher Carme Clemente Martínez. The College had started the process two years earlier with the statue of the Mercy (together with the restorer of the statue of Jesus being taken down from the Cross, the Fine Art and Techniques graduate, Immaculada Caballé, who, in 1998, removed the vestiges of the fire that the statue had suffered years before).
Meanwhile, in 1999, the Brotherhood of Sagrat Cor de Jesús (Sacred Heart of Christ) took part in the procession for the first time, having been founded as an association the year before. Their objectives and achievements included replacing the processional statue of Jesus being stripped of his clothes in its own right. Created in around 1860 by Macià Cuadrado, the original statue was lost in the Civil War.
With the single central image of the group, work on the processional sculpture began in August 2000 and the completed piece took part in the procession for the first time in 2001. The statue of Christ was blessed on the same Palm Sunday on the 1st April.
The processional statue was not designed by Àngel Acosta, the sculptor, as it was a copy, but he gave it his own personal touch. It took seven months to create the first figure, which, as mentioned above, represented Jesus being stripped of his clothes. It is 1.8 metres in height and it is made of multicoloured mahogany wood. The sculptor intended to carve the rest of the figures, the four Roman soldiers who stripped Jesus, at the rate of one per year. Eventually, however, the sculpture was deemed to be completed with three figures. The first solider took part in the procession for the first time in 2002, and the second in 2004.
The six-wheeled pedestal and the supports were the work of Ferran Ferré, the ironwork sculptor from Jesús. The initial phase of this processional statue cost 1,800,000 pesetas.
The complete sculpture can be seen and admired all year round at the Parish Church of the Decentralized Municipal Entity of Jesús.
