Penitential Confraternity of the Holy Cross

The College Sant José de Logroño (Spain) celebrated Holy Week in a very intense way through the Penitential Confraternity of the Holy Cross. The association, founded in 1991, has currently almost 300 members in its different sections: « young brothers », marchers, band and bearers. The majority are pupils, parents and former students of the College.

The Confraternity?s programme appears today one of the most active of those of the eleven confraternities of Logroño. It marches through the streets on Holy Tuesday in the evening, when it organises the « Holy Rosary of Sorrows », and on Holy Friday, when it takes part in the general procession of the « Holy Burial ».

The brothers of the confraternity, dressed in black with borders the colour of Rioja wine, emerge in procession on Tuesday, with the « pasos » of the « Stabat Mater », a sculptural group formed by a crucifix and a figure of the Virgin, alluding to the Marist motto « To Jesus through Mary », and by a « paso » of « Our Lady of the Rosary in the sorrowful mysteries », an image in the shape of a chandelier carried exclusively by women, which suggests a landmark in the Holy Week of Logroño.

In the second procession, on Friday, the Confraternity?s presence is marked through the « paso of the Meeting », which represents the moment when Jesus meets the Holy Women on the « Via Dolorosa ». This sculptural group is the property of the office of the city mayor and it was the first to be entrusted to the Confraternity.

Besides its activities in Holy Week, the Confraternity organises each year different cultural displays in the College.