Fire damages three statues of the Virgin Mary in Spain at start of Holy Week

Nicolás de Cárdenas   By Nicolás de Cárdenas for CNA

April 3, 2023 Catholic News Agency News Briefs 0 Print

 

As Holy Week 2023 processions began in Spain, three wooden carvings of the Virgin Mary were damaged by fire in three separate incidents. / Credit: Brotherhood of Holy Tuesday (Chiclana), Brotherhood of the Virgen del Rocío (Vélez), and Virgen de Gracia Parish (Almadén)

ACI Prensa Staff, Apr 3, 2023 / 17:00 pm (CNA).

As Holy Week processions began in Spain, three wooden carvings of the Virgin Mary were damaged by fire in three separate incidents. The cause of each of the fires appears to be accidental.

Statues of the Blessed Mother in Spain are typically clothed in an ornate mantle. Over the weekend, two caught fire from a candle and one from a probable short circuit.

The organizers of a Holy Week procession in the town of Chiclana in Cadiz province reported that “due to a piece of wick falling from a candle,” the mantle of Holy Mary of the Disconsolate “caught on fire” March 31, the Friday before Holy Week, known in Spain as the Friday of Sorrows, which commemorates the seven sorrows of the Mother of Jesus as the passion of her son approaches.

The mantle was totally destroyed and “the polychromy of her cheek and right hand” were damaged by the blaze, the organizers stated, but the fire did not affect the image of Jesus the Father of the Afflicted, “thanks to the prompt intervention” of those assisting with the veneration of the image.

Fortunately, no one was injured by the fire. Despite expressing “the deepest pain, grief, and sense of helplessness” over the incident but aware that their task is to “evangelize in the streets,” the Brotherhood of Holy Tuesday decided to carry out the procession planned for that day in Holy Week.

In Spain, the groups that organize the various street processions are known as confraternities or brotherhoods.

Two injured in Vélez-Málaga

Two members of a Holy Week confraternity were injured when they tried to put out the flames burning the mantle of the Virgin of El Rocío during the Palm Sunday procession in the town of Vélez-Málaga

A candle broke off and started the fire that occurred during the procession organized by the Confraternity of Our Father Jesus in his Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem and the Virgin of El Rocío.

Part of the mantle was damaged. The damage to the carving initially appeared to be “superficial,” the confraternity said.

The confraternity promised to provide more information about what happened in the coming days and thanked “the expressions of love, assistance, affection, and commitment of the people and confraternities” that have shown their support.

Short circuit suspected in third fire

A fire broke out the night of April 2-3 at Holy Mary of Grace Church in the town of Almadén de la Plata in Seville province.

According to the city government, “one of the altar pieces began to burn” and the firefighters initially suspected the fire was started “by an electrical short circuit.”

Unfortunately the sculpture of the Virgin was “quite damaged,” city hall said.

When the fire broke out, numerous residents went to the scene along with local volunteer firefighters and Civil Guard police. Their actions prevented “the entire church” from catching fire.

This story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

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A religious congregation of blind sisters contemplates the face of Christ

December 6, 2019 CNA Daily News 4

Turin, Italy, Dec 6, 2019 / 03:00 pm (CNA).- In Turin, Italy, the Daughters of Jesus the King is a religious community of  blind and visually impaired sisters who aim for holiness, and to be a sign that in Christ, there are no barriers that cannot be overcome.

Sister Lorena Logrono, superior of the Daughters of Jesus the King, told ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner, that the origin of the congregation traces back to the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan, which was founded by Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo 135 years ago.

“When Blessed Giovanni Maria Boccardo became ill, he left the Congregation of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan  in the hands of his brother Luigi, who was also appointed head of the institutes for blind girls in Turin,” she explained.

“There a young woman asked Fr. Boccardo about becoming a religious, but she couldn’t be admitted because she was blind. Some time later, he received the inspiration to found a congregation for blind people, which would have the charism of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan but be dedicated to contemplation.”

“And then, in 1932, the contemplative branch, the Daughters of Jesus the King, began,” the sister said.

Sister Lorena, who does see, belongs to the Congregation of the Poor Daughters of Saint Cajetan and is the superior of the Daughters of Jesus the King in Turin, Italy.  

“The Daughters of Jesus the King have always had the assistance of a sister who does see, more for practical matters like, when they have to go to see the doctor, but inside the convent everything is adapted and they are completely independent,” Logrono said.

There are eight members of the Daughters of Jesus the King, and they are between 38 and 100 years of age.

Sister Maria Patrizia Speculato, 69 entered the congregation at 21.

“I had studied physical therapy in Florence at the institute for the blind and there I got to know the congregation. I had felt since I was a little girl the Lord’s call and although I pulled back from that for a while, when I finished studying I saw that the Lord was calling me again. And the desire to consecrate myself to Him rose up again. That enabled me to overcome all of the difficulties for entering, such as leaving my family which is from Naples and go to live in Turin. When you have a vocation you do everything necessary to follow it,” she told ACI Prensa.

Sister Maria Patrizia explained that her charism is to “offer the life of prayer and sacrifice for the Holy Father, for the priests and their sanctification, and for preserving and spreading the faith.”

They pray the complete Liturgy of the Hours because they have it translated into Braille, as well as many other books on spirituality. They also do an hour of Euchastic Adoration every day; they meditate an hour in the morning and a half an hour in the afternoon; they pray the rosary after Holy Mass.

“Our life is to grow in intimacy with Christ,” Sister Maria Patrizia explained.

 

A version of this story was first published by ACI Prensa, CNA’s Spanish-language news partner. It has been translated and adapted by CNA.

 

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