Pontificia, Real, Ilustre, Venerable y Salesiana Hermandad Sacramental de la Santa Cena de Alicante
Year of Foundation: 1962
Canonical See: María Auxiliadora Parish
Images:
Sculptural Group Santa Cena: Most Holy Christ of the Holy Supper
• Juan de Ávalos, Ortega Bru and Vicente Salvador, Apostles • Juan de Ávalos, Ortega Bru and Vicente Salvador, 1962
Nazarene: Holy Christ of the Fall • Hernández Navarro 1994
Crucified: Holy Christ of the Hope of Young People • Anonymous 19th century
Image Mariana: Mary Mother of Mercy Help of the Christian People • Hernández Navarro 1995
Shield:
It is composed of a Chalice with the Sacred Form on a red Cross from which rays emanate. This shield has undergone slight modifications over the years, from the first, in which only the Cross and the Chalice appeared, to the current one that is surrounded by the Fleece, and finished off with the Royal Crown due to the granting of the Royal title to the Brotherhood.
Dress:
It is traditional for this Brotherhood to wear an ivory-colored tunic and mask. Cape, also, in red. The emblem of the Brotherhood can be seen embroidered on the mask. The habit is completed with a red silk sash, white gloves and socks, and red shoes.
History:
In the year 1775, we have evidence of the Brotherhood of the Holy Supper. It was born in the neighborhood that emerged in the 15th century outside the city called "Raval de la Porta de l'Orta" or "Raval de San Antón". Specifically in what, little by little, was becoming a street of humble houses and that people would give the name of "Calle de la Cena" for guarding the images of the Last Supper in it.
The suburb of San Antón grew throughout the 16th century. It was a very popular neighborhood and streets, since its neighbors belonged to the lower class, according to the neighborhood (census) of 1754 and in which 63.3% of the 570 day laborers in the city were registered. In the census of houses-owners (fair price) of 1756, it is mentioned that said suburb of San Antón had 772, 27% of the existing houses in the city. But, despite the importance of the number of its buildings, their value only reached 11.9% of the urban total, with an average value per house of only 9.8 pounds; not being alien to this fact the scarce implantation of properties of the titled nobility, since the percentage of this only supposed l 0.6%.
All this gives us an idea of the great effort, the religiosity and the interest, that those humble people had, to magnify the Holy Week of the city and acquire the images of the Last Supper from Murcian Francisco Salzillo for a total cost of 55,000 reais of fleece.
It should be noted that the images acquired from Francisco Salzillo did not come out of his hands, but were made by his father Nicolás Salzillo who, when he died, left them as an inheritance to his son Francisco next to the workshop he owned.
The images were of clothing and were distributed in the houses throughout the year since the dimensions of the "Pass" prevented it from being venerated in a church.
The processional presentation except for the artistic wealth of the "Paso" was very poor. Neither vestas, nor spectacular ornaments, nor perhaps the slightest illumination than that of the number of lights around the images since they were processed in the early hours of the afternoon. Long lines of women from the neighborhood, wearing black headscarves, formed long lines, passing the basins of the Rosary between their hands. Most of the men attended with their black blouses in small groups.
In 1880 the Elche espadrilles guild acquired the iconographic set. Due to the impossibility of processing the Paso through the streets of Elche due to their narrowness, the set was sold, this time, to Cartagena. There they procession until 1949, year in which the Brotherhood of "Los Californios" premiered a new artistic group. At present it has been impossible to know the fate of those original images that came from the hands of Nicolas Salzillo.
Its first processional parade would be on April 7, 1963, Palm Sunday, although years later it would parade on Holy Thursday, as it is today.
Four are the steps of this Salesian brotherhood, venerated in the chapels of the Parroquia-Santuario de Maria Auxiliadora: Santa Cena, titular passage of the brotherhood, acquired in the Santarrufina house in Madrid in 1963. After the procession, all the delicacies and Meats from the Table are donated to a charity, except strawberries, which by tradition are given to the Salesian community; the Stmo. Christ of the Fall, sculpted by D. José A. Hernández Navarro in 1994, and which would replace the Christ attributed to the Salzillo school that is venerated in the convent of the MM Capuchinas; the Cristo de los Jóvenes, an anonymous author, carried by the youth section; and the passage of canopy Mary, Mother of Mercy Help of the Christian People. Work executed by Hernández Navarro in 1995, which would replace an image of Martínez Mataix from 1986.
Musical contribution to Holy Week
- To the Christ of the Fall • Luis Cañizares. Adapted by Pau Sebastiá. Dedicated to the Christ of the same name of the Brotherhood of the Holy Supper. It is included in the repertoire of the Agrupación Musical de La Piedad de Oliva.
- Maria Mercy Help of the Christian people • Francisco Carchano Moltó. Year 2018. March of procession dedicated to the Marian image of the Brotherhood of the Holy Supper.