Our Lady of Sorrows

Coronada · Seville · Church of San Juan de la Palma

In the heart of Seville, in the church of San Juan de la Palma, se venera a Our Lady of Sorrowsone of the most painful in the city. It was the first Dolorosa of the Archdiocese to be crowned canonically (1954) and every Palm Sunday runs through the streets of Sevillian in their penance station.

Main data

The image

La Amargura es una image of candlestick to dress, about 170 cm, carved in cedar wood and with a deep Baroque taste. In 1763 the sculptor Benito de Hita y Castillo He gave him a new body and candlestick to provide it in a dialogue with the image of San Juan Evangelista who accompanies it; the current candlestick is the work of Francisco Buiza (1975). His face, serene and painful at a time, is covered by three glass tears, a trait that has given him fame among the faithful.

The brotherhood and Palm Sunday

The Adargura is the holder of a sacramental and penitential brotherhood that performs its Penance station on Palm Sunday, opening up Sevillian Holy Week with his recollection. It is made under a step of pallet whose embroidery was carried out by the workshop of Juan Manuel Rodríguez Ojeda (1926-1927), and in which it contains, in silver, an image of the Virgin of the Kings, patron of the city.

The canonical coronation

El 21 November 1954, in the cathedral of Seville and during the pontificate of Pius XII, the Adargura was crowned canonically; the crown was imposed by Cardinal Pedro Segura and Sáenz. It was the first painful crown of the archdiocese and the first of a Sevillian penitential brotherhood. The Sisters of the Cross acted as godmothers for the close devotional bond with Santa Angela of the Cross. In 1991 the city granted him its gold medal.

Favors and popular devotion

Devotion to Our Lady of Sorrows, passed down from parents to children, is expressed in the silence of her procession, in the promises of her penitents, and in the countless favors for which popular piety expresses gratitude through her intercession. As is typical of these devotions, such favors belong to the realm of the faithful's gratitude and not to a formal ecclesiastical pronouncement.

Mary, on the path to her Son

To contemplate the Adagura is to contemplate the serene pain of the Mother next to the Passion of Christ. She, who stood by the Cross, is entrusted with the sorrows of the soul. Who the visit can prolong his prayer by praying the Holy Rosarywith which Mary, in all her advocacy, always leads us to Jesus.