WHAT IS THE LITURGICAL AND DEVOTIONAL CONTENT OF THE PROCESSIONS?

LITURGICAL AND DEVOTIONAL CONTENT OF THE PROCESSIONS

Good Friday 2018. Via Crucis Risen - Photograph by Jorge Sesé

INDEX

1. EASTER TRIDUUM
2. VIA CRUCIS- The Way of the Cross. Each brotherhood prays and meditates on the Via Crucis
3. VIA MATRIS- The way of our Virgin Mary´s Sorrows/ The way of sorrows taken by the Virgin Mary
4. THE SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS- The Seven last Words brotherhood meditates on these words
5. DEVOTIONAL CONTENTS: TRIDUUM, QUINARY, SEPTENARY, NOVENA

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______________________________ EASTER TRIDUUM _______________________________

The Three days that commemorate the  Passion, Death and Resurrection of Jesus

The Easter Triduum is the memorial of a great love story which knows no obstacles. It is the remembrance of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of God, which takes place for three days:  Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Holy Saturday.  Those three days of memorial remind us of the mercy of God, and make us enter into the great mystery of the Resurrection of Christ,  which gives us the certainty that we will never be abandoned when we experience challenges and problems in our lives.

• 2.1 As such, Holy Thursday with the institution of the Eucharist and the washing of feet, Jesus teaches us that “ The Eucharist is love which becomes service”.  The reading on Holy Thursday corresponds to the Gospel according to Saint John (Jn 13 1-15) Source
• 2.2 Good Friday is the culminating moment of love. A love that is meant to embrace everyone, without exception. A love that extends to every time and place.  The reading of Good Friday corresponds to the Passion of Our Lord Jesus Christ according to Saint John. (Jn 18,1-19,42) Source. Saint John's Gospel provides the key to understand this deep meaning: “having loved his own in the world, he loved them to the end”. “God's love has no limits”. The Passion of Jesus lasts until the end of the world, because it is a story of sharing the suffering of all of humanity and it is a constant presence in the personal life events of everyone.
• 2.3 Finally, on Holy Saturday, the day of God's silence. "And we have to do everything possible to have a day of silence for us, as it was in that time: the silence of God”. Jesus, deposed in the grave, shares with all humanity the drama of death.  On this day of love, that silent love turns into the expectation of life, into the resurrection. Holy Saturday will help us think of the Virgin, in "the Believer", who was expecting the Resurrection that day. The Virgin is the icon of Holy Saturday. She is the love that does not doubt.

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_________________________________ VIA CRUCIS _________________________________

 Each brotherhood prays and meditates on a  Via Crucis  

The Via Crucis is a very old devotion (IV-V), a pious practice that commemorates, remembers  and keeps alive the Passion and Death of Jesus. In it, the Christian contemplates the Way of the Cross of Jesus, his Passion and Death, and meditates on it. It is a path of prayer that relieves Jesus´s pain, wounds and suffering as well as the Mystery of Redemption.

It begins when Jesus of Nazareth, the Nazarene, was condemned in the praetorium of the Roman governor to the death on the cross. It follows the Path that Jesus walked carrying the Cross until going up  to the foot of Calvary,  where they crucified him. It ends with his death and burial.

The Via Crucis is performed standing, walking, walking as Jesus walked towards his Death going up to the Calvary. And stopping at each stretch of the journey (Station)  as Jesus had to stop on that path (Falls, Encounters, Crucifixion, Words ...). The devotee stops and contemplates 14 moments (the 14 Stations of the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross)), which are represented with images or numbers within the churches.

In Holy Week, each brotherhood (with its parish) does the Via Crucis publicly through the streets in a time of reflection and community prayer. Currently, sometimes, the 15th Station is added: the Resurrection of the Lord, because it is the meaning of the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ and the pillar of Christian faith.

The structure of each stop or Station

At the beginning of each Station, the following is said :

• V/. Adoramus te, Christe, et benedicimus tibi. (We adore you, Lord, and we bless you)
• R/.Quia per sanctam crucem tuam redemisti mundum. (because by your Holy Cross you have redeemed the world)

Afterwards, the fragment of the Gospel that corresponds to the Station is read and that moment of the Passion is meditated on, individually or collectively, in silence or while  the priest says a meditation / reflection. At the end we pray an Our Father.

The 14 stations

THE FIRST STATION: Jesus is condemned to death

THE SECOND STATION: Jesus carries His cross

THE THIRD STATION: Jesus falls the first time

THE FOURTH STATION: Jesus meets his mother

THE FIFTH STATION: Simon of Cyrene (or The Cyrene) helps Jesus to carry his cross

THE SIXTH STATION: Veronica wipes the face of Jesus

THE SEVENTH STATION: Jesus falls the second time

THE EIGHTH STATION: Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem who cry for him

THE NINTH STATION: Jesus falls a third time

THE TENTH STATION: Jesus´s clothes are taken away

THE ELEVENTH STATION: Jesus is nailed to the cross

THE TWELFTH STATION: Jesus dies on the cross

THE THIRTEENTH STATION: The body of Jesus is taken down from the cross and given to his mother
THE FOURTEENTH STATION: Jesus is laid in the tomb

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__________________VIA MATRIS OR THE  SEVEN SORROWS OF OUR LADY _______________
We meditate on the seven sorrows of our Lady

3.1 Different brotherhoods meditate on the Sorrow of the Virgin mary in a Via Matris as in the two processions- The Procession of Our Sorrowful Mother and The Procession of Our Lady of Solitude - from the  Brotherhood of Saint Joachim and the Sorrowful Mother or the Five Tears Brotherhood- The Procession of the Tears- from the brotherhood of the Descent and Our Lady's Tears.

The Piety and devotion to the Virgin Mary in the Holy Week of Zaragoza is deep and has preserved the faith throughout the centuries. Indeed, Zaragoza is a first class Marian pilgrimage center along with other Marian pilgrimage centers such as Fatima or Lourdes. Zaragoza is the only place in the world, in which the Virgin Mary appeared in mortal flesh. She did it on a pillar around which the Pilar Basilica is built, where the Virgin Mary of the Pilar is venerated with profound devotion.

In the Holy Week of Zaragoza multiple images of virgins are carried in procession - The White Virgin,  Our Lady of Solitude, Our lady with the blessed name, Our Lady of the Sorrows , Our Lady of Hope... - as a deep expression of popular Marian devotion. And in multiple processions the Virgin Mary is accompanied in her Sorrows by our meditating on them.

3.2 The Way of the Mother or Via Matris through the Seven Sorrows, separated into seven stations. The Seven Sorrows of Our Lady are:

1. The First Sorrow: The Prophecy of Elder Simeon (Simeon announces that a sword will pierce his soul: Lk 2, 34-35).
2. The Second Sorrow: The Flight Into Egypt  (Maria had to emigrate because of Herod's threat: Mt 2,13).
3. The Third Sorrow: The loss of Jesus in the Temple  (Maria suffers the loss of her teenage son who had stayed in the Temple among the doctors: Lk 2.48,  cf. Cant 3,3).
4. The Fourth Sorrow: Mary meets Jesus on his way  to Calvary (Mary did not leave her son in his moment of pain and although the scene is not referred to in the gospels, there is no doubt that she was by his side on the way to the Calvary, because she was at the foot of the Cross).
5. The Fifth Sorrow: The Crucifixion and Death of Jesus (Mary is at the foot of the Cross with the beloved disciple and other women: Jn 19, 25).
6. The Sixth Sorrow: The spear that pierced the Heart of Jesus and The Descent of Jesus from the Cross (Mary contemplated the lance of the soldier which pierced Christ's body John 19-34).
7. The Seventh Sorrow: The Burial of Jesus (At the request of Joseph of Arimathaea, Pilate granted that Christ be buried in a new tomb and Mary had to be there for the tasks of embalming and burial: Jn 19,38).

3.3 In the Procession of the Tears of Our Lady of Holy Tuesday, performed by the Brotherhood of Descent, the seven Stations are transformed into five Stations, one for each tear of the Virgin:

1. The First Tear: Mater Gladio Transverberata /A sword will pierce your heart.
2. The Second Tear: Mater Angustiis repleta / Behold, your father and I have been searching for you in great distress.
3. The Third Tear: Mater dolorosa / Jesus ,carrying his own cross, goes out to the place called Calvary.
4. The Fourth Tear: Mater crucifica / They crucified two thieves with Him.
5. The Fifth Tear: Mater lacrimosa /  And He cried with a loud voice and gave up the spirit.

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______________________________ THE SEVEN WORDS ______________________________

The Brotherhood of the Seven Words meditates on these words

The Procession of the Seven Words brotherhood on Good Friday morning publicly  preaches The Seven words or the seven last sentences that Jesus pronounced, while he remained for hours nailed to the Cross in Agony until dying.

The last words of Jesus:

1. The first word: "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do." (Luke 23:34).
2. The second word:  "Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise." (Luke 23:43).
3. The third word: "Jesus said to his mother: "Woman, this is your son." Then he said to the disciple: "This is your mother." (John 19:26-27).
4. The fourth word:"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"( Matthew 27:46 and Mark 15:34).
5. The fifth word: "I am thirsty." (John 19:28).
6. The sixth word: When Jesus had received the wine, he said: "It is finished" (John 19:30).
7. The seventh word:"Father, into your hands I commend my spirit."  And, after this, he gave up the spirit (Luke 23:46).

Lanterns of the Seven Words - The seven words Brotherhood - Photograph by Jorge Sesé

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________DEVOTIONAL CONTENTS OF LENT: TRIDUUM, QUINARY, SEPTENARY, NOVENA________

THE TRIDUUM- three days- THE QUINARY- five days, THE SEPTENARY or THE NOVENA are services belonging to the field of popular religion and it is a period of time of three, five, seven or nine days, in which a particular image is worshiped in a very special way, usually Christ - a Christian image - although they are also celebrated in honor of a Virgin Mary.During these days popular devotion to that Christ or Virgin is shown intensely with diverse celebrations; eucharist, rosary, via crucis, the opening of churches twenty-four hours, adoration and kissing of the image, imposing medals on new brothers, musical concerts, prayer and recollection, accompaniment of the image... The image is lowered from its usual place of worship- pedestal, niches ... - to a place almost level with the ground, at the height of the devotees, so that they may worship in a special and close way. The triduum - three days - seems to refer to the three nails with which they crucified Christ, but it also matches with the three days he remained dead or with the three parts of the Most Holy Trinity; the quinary usually refers to the Five Wounds of Christ - the sores of the four nails and the one thrown in the side; the septenary usually refers to the Seven Sorrows of the Virgin Mary.

Triduum of Jesus The Nazarene. Detail of the face of Jesus The Nazarene - Photograph by Jorge Sesé

Triduum of the Virgin Mary Most Holy with the blessed name. 
Detail of the face of the Virgin Mary Most Holy with the blessed name - Photograph by Jorge Sesé

Quinary to Jesus of Humility on the ground - Photograph by  Jorge Sesé

Detail of the face of Jesus of Humility - Photograph by  Jorge Sesé

Septenary of Jesus on the way to Calvary and his mother, the Sorrowful Virgin - Photograph by Jorge Sesé