About the Basílica de la Macarena Seville:
The Basilica was constructed in 1949 in neo-baroque style.
Although it is a beautiful Basilica, the main interest here is the famous statue of Our Lady of Macarena.
About Our Lady of Macarena:
Our Lady the hope of Macarena is one of the most beloved images of The Blessed Virgin Mary in Spain, and has quite a fascinating history.
The image’s genuine authorship is unknown and widely disputed; however, the scholarly attribution of the image is to the artist Pedro Roldán or one of his protégés in his workshop. Three other famous sculptors and their schools place claim on the image. Over time, the image fell into disrepair, but was officially restored in March 1881 by Emilio Pizzaro de la Cruz, who created new arms and hands. It was restored again in 1883.
The image belongs to an anonymous sculptor dating back to 1680, and is over five feet tall. It is a mannequin style image made of pine wood and cypress combination, dressed as the Queen of Heaven but with tears on her cheeks. The expression on her face that of when she gazed at her son on the cross.. The image features a sorrowful face with glass teardrops; along with a human wig and looks downwards. It has an open mouth complete with tongue and teeth. The image holds a mourning handkerchief in her right hand and a Rosary in her laft hand. It also has a gold medal given by the mayor of the city from 1971.
By the early 20th century, the famous gold-embroiderer Juan Manuel Rodríguez Ojeda, a member of the brotherhood of the Macarena devoted his work to the image as a gesture of thanksgiving. Between 1899 and 1900, the image was given a mantle made of gold embroidery, French wire bullion and gold-plated tin, popularly referred to as a “mesh cape”.
By 1908, a canopy of red velvet was added to protect the image from weather conditions, and was restored in 1964. Various crowns and accessories were repeatedly redesigned in 1938, 1953 and 1963.
A new cape was made in 1930, which was unique because the color emerald green was also used along with gold tones. King Alfonso XIII of Spain promoted its devotion by issuing a regal document on the image after being inducted into the fraternity in 1904. In the same year on 11 April, Cardinal Eustaquio Ilundáin y Esteban once again blessed the image and its new cape.
There is a story of a Protestant rebel who drank and then threw a wine bottle at the image sometime before the 1950s. He became a pallbearer for the image the following year as penance for his sacrilegious act.
The image was granted a canonical coronation on 27 March 1913 by Cardinal Enrique Almaraz y Santos, who added the five emerald brooches donated by the bullfighter El Gallo. A similar coronation was also repeated in 1964 by the Archbishop of Seville. During the Spanish Civil War, anti-clerical arsonists entered on the early dawn of 18 July 1936 attempting to destroy the images inside the church and its oratory. To thwart these attempts, the people stole the images of Lord of Judgment and Lady of the Rosary and hid them under the warehouse underneath the church steps.The Macarena image was stripped of its vestments and taken anonymously to one of the members of the Confraternity for safekeeping. Due to the warring factions at the time, the confraternity was expelled and was forced to move into the Church of the Annunciation.
The canopy or Pallio of the Macarena is filled with imperial regalia and expensive and costly textiles. A statue of Our Lady of the Pillar, patroness of Zaragoza, Spain is located in the front.
Patroness of Bullfighters & gypsies.
Annual Festival of Our Lady of Macarena:
During the seven days before Easter, the main streets of Seville close to the normal traffic and street din. The mundane world seems to stop, and all eyes turn to the scenes of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ and the suffering of His Holy Mother.
For seven days and nights, 58 processions with 116 large platforms with life-sized images portraying different episodes of the Passion traverse the streets of Seville. They are massive floats, carried by as many as 60 porters, who, hidden from view by velvet curtains, shuffle along, unable to see, directed by the commands of their leader outside.
The processions are accompanied by great crowds of people not just from Seville, but pilgrims around the world. Each year finds more and more Americans among those pious crowds. We come seeking to share the fervor and national enthusiasm for the pious exercises of Holy Week of old Catholic Spain, which revives each Holy Week despite the protests of the liberal government and Progressivist Church.
For 400 years, each Good Friday, one of the most expressive processions of all Holy Week is repeated: the procession of La Macarena. It begins at midnight and lasts 12 hours. Crowds of people stand outside the old Arab ramparts waiting for the door of the Basilica of the Macarena to open so they might greet their Queen. The night air is perfumed with orange blossoms and thick with expectation.
Traveling to the Basílica de la Macarena:
Macarena is a district in the city of Seville.
Address: Pl. de la Esperanza Macarena, 1, Casco Antiguo, 41002 Sevilla, Spain
Tel: +34 954 90 18 00
email: hermandaddelamacarena@esperanza-macarena.es
Click here for the official website of the Basilica de Macarena in Seville, Spain