In GrenadeSeptember is the month of its patron saint, the Virgin of Angustias. She is honored in different ways, but the two most important days are the floral offering that the people of Grenada make to her and that, on September 15, once again brought together thousands of faithful.
The second, and certainly the most important, takes place on the last Sunday of the month, which this year falls on the 29th. The image of the Virgin. procession in the streets the most important places in the center, which are probably busier than any other day of the year.
As in addition to being the local patron saint, she is also the patron saint of the province, the faithful come from various regions of Granada, but also from other provinces of Andalusia, and the result is that they sometimes come to gather in the street. more than one hundred thousand people. It is a deeply rooted tradition that does not lose its audience, that is clear.
Knowing all this, it is good to know the origin of the image of the Virgin of Sorrows, which interests above all the person who participated in its creation. After completing the Reconquista, the queen Isabelle the Catholic He offered a painting of himself and it was placed in a hermitage next to the Genil River.
A historic hermitage
The story does not specify which hermitage it is, but it is very likely that it is the Hermitage of Saint Sebastian. Moreover, even if it is not a very visited point, it is surely the most historical point of the city. Because it is there that, on January 2, 1492, the king Boabdil symbolically handed over the keys of Granada to the kings Isabelle and Ferdinand and left the city. There is a plaque on the side of this small temple that commemorates this date on which the first Catholic mass in reunified Spain was also celebrated.
The Brotherhood of Our Lady of Angustias began operating in this hermitage in the 16th century, whose statutes date back to 1545. It is one of the most popular brotherhoods in Granada and is responsible for organizing the liturgical events that commemorate the feast of Angustias year after year.
Over time, the painting became a sculpture. It was replaced, to be more precise. That also happened in the 16th centurywhen it was decided to make a wooden sculpture representing the Virgin Mary lifting her son in her arms after his descent from the cross.
It was long thought that the sculpture was the work of Gaspar BecerraCourt sculptor and leading figure in Spanish imagery of this century. However, later studies opt for another possibility: the carving was entrusted to a study of Valladolid and later it was transferred to Granada, where it is now kept in the basilica located on the Carrera de la Virgen.
