Hermandad Penitencial de Santa Cruz
Year of Foundation: 1945
Canonical See: Hermitage of Santa Cruz
Images:
Christ of Medinaceli • Valentín García Quinto 1995
Holy Christ of the Faith • Luis Ortega Bru 1964
Most Holy Virgin of Sorrows • Valentín García Quinto 1994
Sculptural Group of the Sacred Descent of Christ: Holy Christ of the Sacred Descent • Antonio Castillo Lastrucci 1946. Our Lady of Mercy, Saint John the Evangelist, Nicodemus and José de Arimatea • Antonio Castillo Lastrucci 1946. María Magdalena • Jesús Méndez Lastrucci 2004
Shield:
As main elements we find those that refer to the moment of the descent of Jesus Christ, the ladder, the shroud, the tree cross symbol of salvation and the nails, all representing the original titular passage of the Brotherhood, the mystery of the Sacred Descent. The shield is on a purple background and framed within a crown of thorns, symbol of the passion of Christ.
Dress:
It is traditional for this Brotherhood to wear a black vest and satin mask. They carry on the mask the embroidered shield of the corporation and the medal of the Brotherhood. At the waist we find a red cord with a Franciscan tie. It is complemented with black gloves, socks and shoes.
History:
There are those who have wanted to link the existence of this Brotherhood to the creation of the hermitage that bears the same name and that gave rise to the Santa Cruz neighborhood. All this based on an apocryphal tradition that has survived to this day. These are the same ones who have come to affirm that our Holy Week has no history in a monumental and artistic sense or in the conservation of a Passionist treasure. The truth is that in the Santa Cruz neighborhood, where the hermitage is located, at the end of the last century, the humble neighbors who lived there formed a Brotherhood with the same name, a sign of identification of an entire neighborhood and its people. In it were people who have gone down in the history of Alicante with their nicknames: "El Tío Albercoc", "El Tío Calixto", and "Coxo Baeza". They are joined by a priest, a son of the neighborhood, who channels this new devotion, the Rev. Sow.
The brotherhood has its origin in the 19th century, although there is evidence of news about its possible existence also in the 18th. The original passage would be lost forever in the 30s as it happened with so many other brotherhoods of our Holy Week. The work of the sculptor D. Antonio Riudavets, it was composed of a crucified man, the Virgin, Saint John and Mary Magdalene at his feet, in a configuration that would recall the current passage of the Christ of Divine Love, of the brotherhood of the same name on Holy Wednesday.
After the civil war, the Brotherhood is reorganized and needs a throne to replace the images that had disappeared.
The first processional exit took place in Holy Week in 1946, although it was in 1945 the constitution of the Brotherhood. It will be the Governor of Alicante, Don José María Paternina Iturriagagoita, who takes care of the cost of the new images that are commissioned through Don Tomás Valcárcel Deza, the Sevillian image maker Antonio Castillo Lastrucci, parading a single step with an empty cross and a shroud hanging from it, until the following year it would be replaced by the spectacular mystery passage of the Descent, by the Sevillian D. Antonio Castillo Lastrucci, which would include Christ, Nicodemus, José de Arimatea. Later, the same image maker would carry out the carvings of Saint John and the Virgin to complete the scene and in 2004 his great-grandson would be the one who would conclude the scene with the carving of María Magdalena, Jesús Méndez Lastrucci.
After the Descent, the brotherhood would acquire a Crucified from the renowned image maker Ortega Bru, who was baptized in the neighborhood as "El Gitano" and in the 90s, the sculptor García Quinto would carve the images of the Captive Christ of Medinacelli to be carried by the youngest of the brotherhood, and the Virgen de los Dolores to be carried by the women of Santa Cruz.
Musical contribution to Holy Week
- Passion in Santa Cruz • Juan Morote Durán. "March of procession". Second prize in the II Contest of Processional Marches "Ciudad de Alicante" convened in 1999. Dedicated to the procession of Santa Cruz.
- Mare del Dolors • Juli Micó. Procession march for dulzaina. Score collected in the publication "10 anys de festa en festa. Colla de dolçaina i tabalet de Sant Antoni year 2002 ”. Composed in 1999. Dedicated to the Virgen de los Dolores de la Hermandad de Santa Cruz.
- To Ramón Riquelme • Manuel Castelló Rizo. “Religious march. Based on the passage of the Bible the Road to Emmaus ”. Premiered on April 9, 2011 by B.S.M. of Alicante in the Cathedral of San Nicolás.
- Brotherhood of Santa Cruz • Ramón Jover Amorós. Procession march for dulzaina premiered in 2011.
- To the King of Santa Cruz • Pedro Caparrós. March of written procession for musical group premiered on March 24, 2019 in the Basilica of Santa María. Dedicated to the passage of the Descent of the Brotherhood of Santa Cruz.
- Holy Wednesday • Chaskío. Cd dedicated to the Brotherhood of Santa Cruz. 2013
- Ay Santa Cruz - Tribute to Santa Cruz • Duende´s. Single from Sevillanas dedicated to the Brotherhood.
- My neighborhood • Antón Moreno. Cd dedicated to the Brotherhood of Santa Cruz.