History
As recorded in the Foundational Act, it was on 2nd of May 1877 when the Church Brotherhood of the Lord Ecce-Homo was created, with its founders D. Eduardo Esteban y Torres, VI Marquis of Matallana, and the cork industrialist and also poet of Jerez de los Caballeros, D. Luis de Sotomayor y Terrazas, as elder brothers. They were also components of the foundational Governing Board 4 butlers and 12 priests, and D. Antonio Soto, Presbyter, as the treasurer. The day of worship and procession was Palm Sunday afternoon.
All the organization was supposed to take place in the house of the Marquis of Matallana, the main patron of the brotherhood, but there is no documentary evidence of this. And the sayones[1] and the andas[2] would be carved in the carpentry´s workshop of the marquis. The Christ of Mr. Ecce Homo is from a much earlier period, since according to Matías Ramón Martínez, in the 16th century there was already a hermitage of Mr. Ecce Homo in our city, its origin unknown and there is no information about its manufacture. It is supposed, according to some experts, to be from the school of Mena from Granada. This Christ is affectionately called El Chiquinino by those close to the Brotherhood due to the size of the carving, which was in procession until 1995.
After several years of management, the now deceased Seville sculptor and image maker, Manuel Hernández León, was commissioned to create a complete and new mystery, with imagery in keeping with modern times and figures in cedar wood, with human size carvings.
In 1973, the initiative emerged to form its own band to accompany the procession An improvised band was born in the image of the Nazarenes, acquiring processional tunics in the same color range and borrowing instruments belonging to another of the local bands, that of the O.J.E.
The Nazarenes wear the white saya[3] ,cape, capirote [4]and smock in the red color of the Church Brotherhood. The white saya is gathered by a belt of the same fabric; the belt and the buttons are red. An embroidered coat of arms of the Brotherhood, corresponding to the image of the Lord Ecce Homo, hangs from the smock.
Titulars :
Lord Ecce Homo
The images of the mystery of the Lord Ecce Homo are composed of: Jesus facing Pontius Pilate in his presentation to the Jewish people, a Roman legionary guarding him with the insignia of Rome, and an Ethiopian slave with the whip of torment. For the first time, it marched in procession with the complete mystery scene on the 12th of April 1995, Holy Wednesday, being this Brotherhood the first in our city to dare with the remodeling and making of a complete and totally new mystery. All images that were in procession in our city at that time were the ones of its foundation, except for images of virgins. These images are carried on silver platforms, the work of the famous Sevillian sculptor Jesús Domínguez Vázquez. The breastplate of the Roman legionary, the roman cauldron and the four candelabra were made for the occasion in the famous goldsmith’s workshops of Manuel de Los Ríos from Seville.
The image is a full-length statue with a shroud (burial garment). It represents the evangelical passage of Saint John (John 19, 4-5). The Redeemer is standing, crowned with thorns, bloodied and restrained with handcuffs, dressed in a purple tunic open to the waist, at the moment when the Roman governor Pontius Pilate presents him to the people of Judea. In the carving, the scars of the torment he has suffered can be perfectly appreciated, and can be seen on half of his naked body, as well as the incrustation of the thorns of the crown on his head and the drops of blood dripping down his forehead and neck. His eyes can also be seen almost glazed over, giving the impression of wateriness in them. To contemplate his image up close is astonishing and immensely sad, due to the realism and rawness of the martyrdom reflected in the sculpture.
Virgen de los Desamparados
This Virgin is a candelabrum image of La Dolorosa[5] for dressing up. It is made of cedar wood, its author is unknown and it is dated in the second half of the 17th century, with the head inclined to the right, looking down, with eyes of grief, but with resignation, and her hands are intertwined.
According to documents, it is known that in 1807 the factory of the parish San Miguel Arcángel, paid Narciso Borrachero the amount of 300 reales[6] for the restoration of the Virgen de los Desamparados.
Although she is under the patronage of the Desamparados, she is popularly known in our city as Virgen de los Dolores.
Events and celebrations
It was the tradition in each church brotherhood to assist and help the poor and prisoners on an annual basis, coinciding with the penance season. The Brotherhood in question has reinvented this tradition in a unique celebration on Maundy Thursday, where all those who come to the fair can enjoy a dish of «cocido extremeño» (chickpeas of the Ecce-Homo) with a drink and fruit.
Brotherhood House
The Casa de Hermandad is located in the street Pilar Lasarte 3 in Jerez de los Caballeros, just a few meters from the center of the town and the Church of San Miguel Arcángel, where the titular images of the brotherhood are located, where they are worshiped and from where they leave on Holy Wednesday for their processional parade.
The place is located in what used to be the orchard of the Hospital de Enfermos, on a site of land of approximately 350 m2. It has its entrance from a courtyard with an architectural style in harmony with the places in which it is located, and is accessed through the entrance door which is similar in size and shape to Puerta del Perdón through which the processions leave from the parish church of San Miguel. The entrance, in the form of a hall, was conceived as a reception area for visitors, receiving natural light through two leaded glass windows, one of which has the brotherhood’s coat of arms. From here you can access the Confraternity’s Museum Hall, in which the pasos are permanently exhibited as they go out in procession, without the titular images, which, as we have already mentioned, are in the church for worship. A white Portuguese marble staircase with a wrought iron railing also leads to the first floor, where the Board Room and the Secretary’s Office are located.
[1] Executioners
[2] Platform to carry the saint during the procession
[3] Type of skirt
[4] Catholic conical hood
[5] Virgin of Sorrows
[6] Real: ancient coin used in Spain at that time
