Granada’s patron saint will leave her basilica on Sunday due to earthquake damage to the dome
The image will be taken to El Sagrario at seven in the morning, although the Brotherhood’s Constitutions place the floral offering and the novena in the basilica
The image of Our Lady of Sorrows will leave its basilica on Sunday, August 30 at seven in the morning and will be moved to the Sagrario church, next to the Cathedral. The Patronal Brotherhood announced this on Monday, and the decision is a response to the damage caused by the earthquakes to the temple’s dome and follows the instructions of the technicians, with the support of the archbishop.
The patron saint will remain there «for the necessary period of time until safety is fully guaranteed», according to the Brotherhood, which has not set a return date nor quantified the extent of the damage. The Alhendín seismic swarm, which began at 1:04 on August 15, has now accumulated 1,075 earthquakes according to the National Geographic Institute, and Andalusia remains in the emergency phase.
The dome crowning the crossing
The Brotherhood describes that dome as a vault on pendentives, with the coats of arms of Mary’s pierced heart and of the kings of Spain, which finishes off the confluence of the central nave and the crossing. It also features «laborious polychrome plasterwork» and is lit by the windows of the drum.
And that point is by no means an ordinary part of the building. The Brotherhood itself places the junction of the nave and the crossing right in front of the presbytery, that is, in front of the main altarpiece and the jasper window through which the image looks out onto the temple from its chapel. Polychrome plasterwork, on the other hand, is among the most delicate finishes of Granada Baroque: it comes away before the masonry that supports it.
The current temple was completed in 1671, has been a minor basilica since 1922 and the Archdiocese of Granada includes it in its catalog of cultural heritage as a Site of Cultural Interest.
What the Constitutions say
The Brotherhood assures that the September devotions will be held in the Sagrario, «thus maintaining the planned devotional calendar». However, in Chapter VI of its Constitutions, it ties several of those devotions to the building that the image is about to leave.
In Article 58, it sets for September 15, the feast of Our Lady, a solemn morning Mass «in the Basilica» and, in the afternoon, the floral offering of the people of Granada «at the doors of her Basilica». The evening novena, which begins ten days before the last Sunday of September, is likewise placed there. This year those dates fall on Tuesday the 15th and Thursday the 17th, and the procession on the last Sunday, the 27th.
For now, the Brotherhood has not detailed where the floral offering will be held, nor from which temple the September procession will depart. These are two of the events that draw the biggest crowds in the city.
It is not the only affected temple
As early as August 19, the Regional Government reported preventive actions in several temples in the capital, and the Local Police completely cut traffic on Elvira Street due to the risk detected in the church of San Andrés, and firefighters warned of new pinnacles at risk of falling in the church of the Sacred Heart, on Gran Vía. That same day, the Regional Government reported the collapse of part of the roof of the Casa de los Tiros Museum.
The inspection tally keeps growing. This Monday, the Housing Department put at 976 the buildings inspected in the affected area, of which 43 are in red status, the category that prevents them from being occupied until safety measures are adopted.
An image from the 16th century
The sculpture that will be moved on Sunday is a devotional work from the 16th century. Pope Leo XIII ratified in 1887 the patronage that Granada already popularly recognized for her, and the canonical coronation came on September 20, 1913, officiated by Archbishop José Meseguer y Costa. John Paul II stopped at the basilica on November 5, 1982, during his first visit to Spain.
The Brotherhood thanks the parish priest of the Sagrario for his support and explains that he has led «this swift initiative» with the aim of not depriving the archdiocese of the image’s closeness. For now, it is unknown how long the stay will last and what intervention the dome will require. On Sunday at seven in the morning, meanwhile, the patron saint will walk the few streets that separate Carrera de la Virgen from Plaza de las Pasiegas.