The King of Spain, Felipe VI, has fulfilled the tradition of the Spanish monarchy to join popular devotion to the Christ of Medinaceli, for more than 300 years, on the first Friday of March.
D on Felipe has come to the Basilica of Our Father Jesus of Medinaceli, one of the seven temples that have this consideration in Madrid, where it has been received by the community of the Order of the Capuchin younger brothers governing the place.
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It is the third time that the monarch comes to complete the image since he accessed the throne. The other two occasions happened in 2018 and 2024. The tradition that a member of the Royal Family comes on the first Friday of March dates back to 1682.
A rescued Christ
The Christ of Medinaceli, also known as Our Father Jesus of Medinaceli or Jesús Nazareno rescued, is a size of anonymous authorship, but attributed to the Juan de Mesa Cordoba school.
Carved in the seventeenth century, it was taken to the city of San Felipe de la Mamora (current Mehdía in Morocco), to receive cult of the soldiers who took that place in 1614.
Years later, the city fell into the hands of the troops of a sultan and the image was dragged through the streets as a mockery. A Trinitarian father asked to rescue her at the price of both gold and her weight. Miraculously, at the time of being heavy, the scale showed a much lower result than expected.
Taken to Madrid in 1682, it soon won in devotion and little years later the slave congregation of Jesus Nazareno was created around the image. The appellation “of Medinaceli”, is because it was the Dukes of Medinaceli who donated the land where their first chapel was erected.
The Basilica, built on an old trinitarian convent, was demolished in 1920. Ten years later the works were completed.
Since Madrid remained on the Republican side during the Spanish Civil War, the neighbors hid the image, which however was discovered. After a stay in Switzerland, he returned after the war.
The image, which presides over the temple from its dressing room, provokes the devotion of thousands of faithful throughout the year, every Friday.
Nicolás de Cárdenas
Born in 1980, I am a Spanish and journalist’s husband and father with more than 20 years of experience in print and digital media, specialized in socio -political and religious information. I have worked more than 10 years in defense of human rights and I have accreditations in journalism and comprehensive communication. Since July 2022, I am a correspondent for ACI Press and Ewtn News in Spain, covering international events of the Catholic Church.