The Aragonese books of Domingo Buesa: The history of our Holy Week

And this bookis a consequence of his important research in the archives that has allowed him to go to the original sources, to the documents that explain to us that Zaragoza had five penitential corporations that Antonio Olmo is studying in detail. He explains that the origins of Holy Week lie in the Passionist dedication brotherhoods such as that of the Holy Sepulcher since 1336, that in the 15th century there was already a Procession of the Palms and that in 1529 we know that a Procession of Flagellants entered the monastery of Santa Engracia under the watchful eye of Carlos V himself.

Raised this tour of the latest archival discoveries, dedicates a chapter to the penitential brotherhood of Vera Cruz, from 1530, and a very extensive one to the Brotherhood of the Blood of Christ documented at least since 1544, founded in the convent of San Agustín and later settled in that of San Francisco, where they have the chapel of Christ that the author of the book reconstructs according to the documentation. After telling us about the procession, its organization and the Cristo de la Cama, from the beginning of the 17th century, he enters the world of the Cofradía de la Soledad founded in 1579 in the convent of La Victoria and in which the nobles of the city that on Good Friday accompanies the steps carried on the shoulders of the friars, between songs of the miserere and sounds of bells. Analyzing this brotherhood whose statutes were approved by the vicar Pedro Cerbuna, founder of the University, documents that of San Gregorio and Santa Elena, from 1597, typical of the students of the General Study of the City of Zaragoza in which the doctors were not allowed to enter, unless they managed to do so after entering. They paraded with gloves and the deputies gave them four axes of light that accompanied the faculty and the juries of the city.

The magnificent study closes with the analysis of the evolution of the Venerable Third Order of Saint Francis, from 1615, which the Seo council authorized to go out in procession on Holy Tuesday. Famous were his Stations of the Cross to the hermitage of the Holy Sepulchre, attended by some santeros in the area of ​​the current Pablo Serrano museum. they were showy processions with 12 banners that reached the church of San Pedro, in the current Don Jaime street, where the passage of the Redeemer met that of the Virgin. Of the last one that Dr. Olmo studies – that of the slavery of Jesús Nazareno that today survives vigorously in the church of San Miguel – we know that he even had women in his bosom and that on Palm Sunday they entered the city through the Puerta del Carmen escorted by the troops and announced by singers and bugles.

As you can see, this exceptional work gives a lot of truthful and documented information, constituting the sample of how this Aragonese researcher is becoming one of the most promising specialists in Spanish Holy Week. The book will teach them, it will surprise them, it will make them think and it will allow them to know the spirituality of Zaragoza. Thanks for this to the author and to the Association for the Study of Holy Week in Zaragoza, which has given us an exceptional gift to all Zaragozans.