BROTHERHOOD OF THE VERA CRUZ FROM THE XV TO THE XIX CENTURY 

AND 21ST CENTURY ITS RECOVERY - VILLAFÁFILA

This brotherhood, founded in the hermitage of Vera Cruz, near the church of San Andrés (old cemetery) on which it depended, is one of the multiple brotherhoods that the town of Villafáfila had in past centuries and of which we have older references.

These references are indirect, because in the deed of expense that was made in the will of Yván de Collantes, that:

“Fallesçio a Saturday thirteen days of the month of February 1490” [1] ,

The fulfillment of a testamentary mandate of this hidalgo, who had been warden of the Villafáfila fortress, appears:

“Vera Crus + one hundred mrs. What Rodrigo Herrada, abbot, wore” [2] .

Through this document (Archive of the Royal Chancery of Valladolid. Civil lawsuits. Zarandona and Walls 1353-8 olv.) We know that this brotherhood already existed in the Middle Ages and that the person who was in charge of it received the name of abbot . The existence of the hermitage that housed this brotherhood is also known from the same document, but referring to a few years later, specifically to 1513, when Collantes's widow, María Vázquez, died, he leaves a command in her will:

 “To Vera Cruz ea Sª Mª de Villarigo ea Sª Mª Madalena ea Sª Marta ea Sª Mª la Nueva, hermitages of this town, to each one half a real for their works” [3] ,

so it is to be assumed that their origin dates back to the Middle Ages.

Unfortunately, the Rule of the brotherhood is not preserved (although it is possible that one day it will appear among the files of the Diocesan Archive of Astorga, in one of the many lawsuits that are not yet catalogued), but they are preserved in the parish archive of Villafáfila two account books of her [4] , Villafáfila Parish Archives. Books 71 and 72 by whose references we can make an approximation to their activities.

The brotherhoods of the Vera Cruz emerged with a penitential character of discipline during the Middle Ages influenced by Franciscan thought, they spread throughout the towns and on the outskirts of many of them small hermitages were built to give shelter to the penitents and exercise other care functions. Thus, the Villafáfila was located near the old parish of San Andrés, today converted into the so-called Old Cemetery, exactly on the peak formed by the paths of Espino and S. Agustín in their divergence. The precise location of its location is known thanks to oral tradition, from old neighbors who heard it from their parents. Particularly to Mauro Vicente Costilla (RIP), his father had passed it on.

Maps of Plot Concentration of Villafáfila, polygon 7, Former location of the hermitage of Vera Cruz

To which the site of the old hermitage, known as the Hall, or the Humilladero, belonged. The hermitage had stone foundations and some rammed earth walls, it had several rooms such as the Hall where discipline was carried out, around its walls there were some stone benches where the brothers sat during the night of Holy Thursday, a kitchen and other adjoining rooms to be able to fulfill the functions of hospitality entrusted to the brotherhood.

Inside the hermitage there was an altarpiece with the Holy Christ and in the 16th century, it served to receive the Holy Sacrament of the parish of San Andrés, while works were being done in the church.

In 1714 the bishop of Astorga, faced with the threat of ruin, orders that the hermitage be demolished and a cross be put in its place, but this episcopal mandate was not carried out, surely due to the opposition of the brotherhoods, who two years later They carry out the repair works by means of a neckline among all, due to the lack of funds for the brotherhood. The works take place from time to time and the deterioration persists, sometimes aggravated by the entry of the waters that descended along the Espino path inside the hermitage during periods of flooding.

In 1760 the hall was rebuilt, using adobes and 1,500 tiles.

Until its demolition in 1805, almost every year there was an expense item for repair work on the hermitage.

In other neighboring towns there were also hermitages of the Cross, thus there are references to those of San Agustín, whose rule and statutes date back to the 17th century and are preserved in the parish archive and Revellinos in the 18th century, or that of Benavente, outside the walls of the town, where Count Don Alonso was, when he received the Royal Provision of appointment as commander of Castrotorafe and Villafáfila in 1507. In Otero de Sariegos, before its depopulation in the mid-seventeenth century, there was a brotherhood of the Cross, whose account book was deposited, along with other documents, in the church of San Juan de Villafáfila in 1674. The Villarrín brotherhood remained active until this century, and thanks to the preservation of its rules and statutes they have recovered the Thursday race Holy as traditionally celebrated.

The two account books of the brotherhood that are preserved date back to 1693 and reach 1877 and are the main source of approximation to this historic brotherhood.

In the 17th and early 18th centuries the brotherhood was mixed, made up of cofrades and cofradas , as they are called in the member lists.

In that of 1717 there are 58 men and 45 women, but some change must have taken place in those years, since from 1723 there are only 111 cofrades, all men.

To enter the brotherhood it was necessary to be presented by a guarantor, who had to be a brother. In the mid-eighteenth century, the amount of the entry was divided into four annuities to facilitate payment.

The brothers were of two classes, light and discipline:

· The brothers of "Luz" were a kind of honorary members who availed themselves of the benefits of the brotherhood, but were not subject to all the obligations, including that of disciplining themselves. They were wealthier neighbors.

· The "discipline" brothers , also called blood or pike, were ordinary members with all the obligations imposed by the rule, including submitting to discipline on the afternoon and evening of Holy Thursday. They belonged to the lower classes of the town.

That is why the brothers of discipline and light, because to enter the brotherhood you had to pay an amount in money, variable over the centuries. Thus, in 1707 the discipline brothers paid half a ducat (five and a half reales) at the entrance and one ducat at the exit, generally upon death; women paid eleven reales, that is, one ducat to enter and a half to leave. However, the entrance fee for a brother of light was one hundred reais, and the exit cost eleven.

The brotherhood party was celebrated on May 3, and on May 1, as prescribed by the Rule, the brothers had the obligation to attend, carrying Christ, the procession and prayer that was held every year at the hermitage of Ntra. Mrs. de Villarigo [5] .

The obligations of the brothers were mainly three:

· Attend the funerals and masses that were celebrated for the souls of the brothers, which were one each month and each time one of them died, as determined by chapter 5 of the rule.

· Go to the rogation and pilgrimage that was prepared on the first of May in the morning to the hermitage of Nuestra Señora de Villarigo, carrying the Christ, the cross and the insignia of the brotherhood [6] , with the assistance of the priest of San Pedro ( previously that of San Andrés), which was presented with a refreshment of biscuits and jams upon arrival in Villarigo.

· Participate in the procession or race on Holy Thursday in the afternoon. The brothers of light came carrying a luminary, hence their name and those of discipline covered with a tunic or white shirt of penance with a hood. The brotherhood had the tunics and rented them to the brothers who did not have one of their own for a real and a half. The discipline brothers had to do penance or discipline during the night of Holy Thursday in the Hall of the hermitage, probably also during the procession, since at that time it is called the procession of discipline. We do not know the characteristics of this penance in detail, but basically it consisted of being whipped on their flesh until they bled, possibly with some scourge or cutting instrument, hence their name also as cofradesof pike or blood . For cleaning the wounds they used wine.

The penance that was done in the Hall of the hermitage, was performed before a crucifix:

"a cross called whipping, with the instruments of the Passion" ,

and the brothers who did not perform it were subject to a fine. After 50 years of age these brothers were exempt from discipline and those who were not disabled attended the procession on Holy Thursday with the white tunic. The brotherhood offered the participants in the discipline the parva , consisting of a portion of bread and wine cake.  

In the year 1693 two loads of wheat were spent for the cakes and six pitchers of wine on Holy Thursday. Seven pitchers were spent in 1698 and 1707, and eight pitchers in 1718. All of this provoked the intervention of the bishops of Astorga, who in their visit mandates for those years left written:

"That the expenses they make in the collations be moderated, mainly those of Holy Thursday and Good Friday... that one does not go out of devotion to the processions but for the collations" .

They did not pay much attention to these mandates, because in 1726 he reiterated:

“Most of the funds of this brotherhood are spent and consumed in snack wine, this being against the institute of the brotherhood of the cross, which is for penance and to pay suffrage for the souls... and that such snacks in Holy Week they give reason to break the precept of fasting and other serious inconveniences... I order that only one sip of wine be given to each brother who disciplines himself, and a cut portion of bread that serves as parba” .

Some effect arose as henceforth they spend only one load of bread:

“in giving parba to the brothers on the night of Holy Thursday, and giving the collation to the priests, because they attend the procession that day... and six pitchers of wine in the collation to the priests, in washing the penitents and in giving refreshment to the brothers " .

Over the years, the bishops, with a training and a mentality influenced by the ideas of the Enlightenment, recommend that these disciplinary exercises not be carried out because they seem to them savage practices, thus in 1775 one of the mandates of the Bishop of Astorga is:

"That the blood penance of Holy Week be entirely voluntary, so that, henceforth, no brother can be fined for not disciplining himself, since this must be an effect for devotion, and the opposite is reprehensible" .

In addition, he orders again that the cost of snacks be moderated, since that year they had spent two loads of wheat, eight jugs of wine, five pounds of jams and one pound of biscuits and prohibits the heap on Good Friday, for being fasting day The following year he only spends half the bread and wine.

Over the years the number of disciplinary officers decreases and of the 66 shirts that are leased in 1718, only 25 are rented in 1774 and in the seventies of the 19th century there are only 16 discipline shirts left.

At the head of the brotherhood was a mayordomo (in the Middle Ages he was called abbot), four officers called " quatros ", a mayor and a caller. At the beginning of the 19th century, two mayordomos were chosen. The election of positions was carried out in the meeting of the brotherhood that was celebrated on September 14, day of the Exaltation of the Cross, of each year and its functions are not known to us.

We know that the mayordomo was the visible head of the brotherhood, the one in charge of keeping the accounts and making the expenses. Sometimes he had to carry out extraordinary tasks, as in 1700, when a foundling appeared in the hermitage, the mayordomo had to take it to the hospital for foundlings in Salamanca, at the expense of the brotherhood for not wanting to do it in the town. The officers or quatros were in charge of organizing the procession or the race. The mayor would be in charge of imposing the fines on the brothers who did not fulfill their obligations. And the caller would have the mission of notifying the brothers for the meetings and acts of the brotherhood.

The chapters of the brotherhood were held in the church of San Andrés, probably due to the insufficiency of the hermitage to house all the brotherhoods. When the bishop of Astorga in his pastoral visit of 1642 decides to abolish the parish of San Andrés to be annexed to that of San Pedro due to lack of parishioners, the brothers of Vera Cruz appear before their illustrious:

“and they said that they were asking for mercy to make the chapters of the brotherhood in San Andrés and that the big bell stay in the church” [7] , to which the bishop agreed.

With which it is deduced that the brotherhood came to depend on the church of San Pedro, but continued to be based in the hermitage until its demolition in 1805. After the demolition of the church of San Andrés in 1772, surely its chapters were spent in San Pedro .

The relations of the brotherhood with the parish priests were not always cordial, so in 1571 the priest of San Andrés, Diego de Barrio, complained that the brotherhoods did not allow him to say the masses that the brotherhood had the obligation to say because they were endowed in that parish.

Apart from the masses, the brotherhood had the obligation to maintain a hospital in the premises of the hermitage to house the poor sick and pilgrims. In her care was a hospitalero to welcome the sick or passers-by.

Thus in 1541 Francisco de Pajares is:

"hospitalero of the brotherhood of Santa Vera Cruz" .

It was one of the four that the town had in the 16th century. These were small establishments with a kitchen and a room run by a hospitalero who cared for the poor. But these works of charity were not always attended to and in the pastoral visit of 1597 the bishop appointed the priest of San Andrés as superintendent of the Hospital de la Cruz so that he would visit him often and see to it that he fulfilled the obligations of caring for the poor, having separate rooms for men and women. In addition to caring for the poor sick, the brotherhood had to take care of the children who left foundlings at their door and take them to hospices.

The financing of the brotherhood was carried out through the entry and exit fees of the brothers, the rent of the penitence robes, some of which served as a shroud for the brothers who did not have their own and who paid their worth:

“it has shirts for the penitents who discipline themselves on Holy Thursday, and some of them have been taken out to shroud some who have died” ;

for the testamentary bequests of alms that many neighbors left at their death for repairs to the hermitage or for the brotherhood (we already mentioned the 100 mr. that Ivan de Collantes left in 1490, and in 1523 the archpriest Fernando Fernández, left an order  "Ytem command to the Vera Cruz de Sant Andrés a dukedom” that is equivalent to 374 maravedís, from the fruit of the lands of the brotherhood, which in 1751 amounted to 81 fanegas and 3 quarters of surface, which produced about 14 fanegas of medium bread, wheat and barley These lands had also been passing to the brotherhood through wills and funeral orders.

The main expenses were the cost of the masses; the collations of the first of May, the one that was given to the priests and the quatros or officers after the race on Holy Thursday, and the one on September 14; the repair works of the hermitage and sporadically, the purchase of crosses, banners, badges and other objects for the processions.

The procession called "La Carrera" was held on the afternoon of Holy Thursday and they took out in procession an image of the crucified Christ, which according to D. Camilo Pérez Bragado is a Christ that is from:

Style: Flemish-Gothic, 15th century, years before 1500.

Measures: 1.2m.

Author: Attributable to Alejo de Vahía [8] .

Although at that time he was dressed in a short skirt.

The image was very old in 1726, which can be indicative of its antiquity, so the bishop orders:

"That the effigy of the Sstº Xpttº be retouched because it was found without paint and very deteriorated" .

In 1741 it is mentioned how much it has cost to gild the box of Christ and two small Christs with skirts of green damask

1771 reference is made to the brotherhood of Vera Cruz in the referral file of the viscount of Valoria, intendant of Zamora, to the count of Aranda of the state of the congregations, brotherhoods and brotherhoods that exist in the towns of his jurisdiction, Villafáfila (Zamora ) (sheet VIII et seq.) [9] .

The processions lasted until night, so the bishop orders them to leave in time to enter the church before the end of the day.

In the procession the brothers of light were uncovered carrying a luminary, those of discipline were doing penance, either with a white tunic or with some object of discipline. One brother carried the insignia and another the cross.

In 1726 a green damask standard was purchased in Valladolid, with a metal cross on the pole. In 1803 a new banner was brought out.

The jewels of the brotherhood that are related in 1775 are:

· A green damask banner with its cross, pole and silk cords.

· A cross of error of the dead.

· A cross called whipping with the instruments of the Passion.

· Two wooden crucifixes with green damask skirts.

· Green curtains and taffetas.

· Two green skirts brought by the Holy Christ donated by Doña Lucía Costilla.

· Two new cushions and two old ones with incarnated covers that belong to the Santísimo Cristo del Descendimiento that are used on Holy Thursday in the hermitage of this brotherhood.

  The brothers belonged to all the social strata of the town, from noblemen, rich farmers to day laborers or scribes, and they were distributed throughout all the parishes. The number of brotherhoods is very uneven throughout its history.

In 1717, 45 brotherhoods and 58 brotherhoods were listed, in 1723 there were 110 brotherhoods, all men, 77 of blood and 33 of light. priests and other religious.

A great blow to the brotherhood was the confiscation of its properties at the beginning of the 19th century. As a consequence of Godoy's policy, in 1798 a Royal Order was promulgated by which a Royal Amortization Fund was created and the real estate of hospitals, hospices, mercy houses, confinement houses, brotherhoods, memories, works pious and patronage of laymen, putting the capitals achieved in that Royal Box with an annual yield of 3%.

This confiscation, precursor of those of Mendizábal or Madoz, affected many religious foundations of Villafáfila, among others this brotherhood. In 1805 the estates were put up for sale and the hermitage was dismantled, selling its wood, stone and tile, the Cristo de la Vera Cruz passed to the church of San Pedro, without knowing its location, from this church it began to leave the procession with the Christ.

The land inheritance was sold in February 1806 for 28,280 reales and 33 maravedíes. In 1807, a total of 29,933 reales de vellón were deposited in the Real Caja, which should have produced an annual income of almost 900 reales for the brotherhood. The problem came with the French invasion and the War of Independence, which prevented any collection of interest, which still had not been received three years after it ended. All this meant that the number of brotherhoods in 1817 was 49. However, as the population of the town grew, the brotherhood increased its members until reaching 123 in 1863, descending again with the revolution and the regime changes of the later years, the last list of accounts and brotherhoods year 1877 were 64 [10]disappearing at the end of the 19th century.

The rites and penances that took place throughout the night of Holy Thursday that made a large number of people stay awake, who made the vigil more bearable with a few drinks of wine, would be the origin of the custom of making lemonade and staying whole the night of revelry that the young people of Villafáfila have followed since time immemorial.

1896 on June 24 the church of San Pedro is suppressed and when it disappears at the beginning of the s. XX, in 1904 where Cristo de la Vera Cruz lastly passed to the Santa María del Moral church, we have no evidence that it was located inside the church, possibly it was kept in parish buildings.

1995 the Christ passes to the Parish Museum.

2010, through the Board for Holy Week of Villafáfila, the Christ is given a small cleaning, that after so many years between candles the image was noticeable like the cross the soot, the difference from before to after was very noticeable.

  The precession of the Vera Cruz "La Carrera" is recovered more than one hundred and ten years after its last procession, through studies by Elías Rodríguez Rodríguez of the old brotherhood, they try to make a procession as reliable as possible to the current moments, where To give it a representative touch, the Castilian layer is introduced.

The route of the procession takes place: it leaves from the church of Santa María, along Rejadarada street in the direction until it reaches where the old brotherhood originally belonged to the church of San Andrés (located in the old cemetery) and that its hermitage was nearby, there a prayer is made in memory of all brotherhood, old church of San Andrés and all people buried in the old cemetery, the route returns in its footsteps from Rejadarada street entering San Andrés street, to San Pedro square , old location of the church of San Pedro that after the suppression of San Andrés said brotherhood happened to belong, and later to be in it the Christ. continue along Sacramento Street, passing through La Botica Street, until you reach the four streets,

The bearers wear a white shirt and procession with the Castilian cape.

At the end of the procession, lemonade and pastries are given in memory of what the "Parva" was , but giving lemonade and pastries .

2011 the Christ was restored by the Bishopric of Zamora.

Since 2011, the Christ has been inside the church of Santa María del Moral, in the west or gospel nave (left side), section 3, between El Salvador and Ecce Homo.

Author:

Elijah Rodriguez Rodriguez.

Vera Cruz Brotherhood.

villafafila.net - http://villafafila.net/cofradiaveracruz/cofradiaveracruz.htm

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Inclusion reference of the 21st century.

Bibliography - Text:

Manuel De la Granja Alonso and Camilo Pérez Bragado:

Villafáfila, history and present of a Castilian-Leonese village and its parish churches. 1996, p. 412 and 433.

Manuel de la Granja Alonso.

The Art of a Castilian-Leonese town Villafáfila 2008, p. 26, 32, 44 and 45.

Villafáfila Parish Archives. Books 71 and 72, two account books from 1693 to 1877.

Jose Angel Rivera de las Heras

New works related to Alejo de Vahía and his school in the Diocese of Zamora    

BSAA Art: Bulletin of the Art Studies Seminar , ISSN 1888-9751, No. 76, 2010 , pp. 25-32.    

http://dialnet.unirioja.es/descarga/articulo?3418293.pdf

Pares File: ES.28079.AHN//CONSEJOS,7098, Exp.29. Referral file from the Viscount of Valoria, Mayor of Zamora, to the Count of Aranda of the state of the congregations, brotherhoods and brotherhoods that exist in the towns under his jurisdiction. http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/catalogo/description/6846186?nm

http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/ViewImage.do?accion=42&txt_transformacion=0&txt_id_imagen=9&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&dbCode=40189472

http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/ViewImage.do?accion=42&txt_transformacion=0&txt_id_imagen=16&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&dbCode=40189479

Maps of Plot Concentration, Agriculture and Livestock of JCyL, of Villafáfila:

https://agriculturaganaderia.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/binarios/542/965/VILLAFA_ACU_PLA_007.TIF?blobheader=image%2Ftiff&blobheadername2=site&blobheadername3=Cache-control&blobheadername4=Expires&blobheadervalue2=JCYL_AgriculturaGanaderia&blobheadervalue3=no-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache revalidate&blobheadervalue4=0

https://www.sedecatastro.gob.es

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Personal information.

Photos:

Manuel de la Granja Alonso.

Pares File: ES.28079.AHN//CONSEJOS,7098, Exp.29. Referral file from the Viscount of Valoria, Mayor of Zamora, to the Count of Aranda of the state of the congregations, brotherhoods and brotherhoods that exist in the towns under his jurisdiction.

http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/ViewImage.do?accion=42&txt_transformacion=0&txt_id_imagen=9&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&dbCode=40189472

http://pares.mcu.es/ParesBusquedas20/ViewImage.do?accion=42&txt_transformacion=0&txt_id_imagen=16&txt_rotar=0&txt_contraste=0&dbCode=40189479

Maps of Plot Consolidation, Agriculture and Livestock of JCyL, of Villafáfila: Plan of plot concentration of Villafáfila, polygon 7.

https://agriculturaganaderia.jcyl.es/web/jcyl/binarios/542/965/VILLAFA_ACU_PLA_007.TIF?blobheader=image%2Ftiff&blobheadername2=site&blobheadername3=Cache-control&blobheadername4=Expires&blobheadervalue2=JCYL_AgriculturaGanaderia&blobheadervalue3=no-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache%2Cno-cache revalidate&blobheadervalue4=0

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

Transcription and montage:

Jose Luis Dominguez Martinez.

All text, photographs, transcription and montage, the rights belong to their authors, any type of use is prohibited without authorization.