A few months ago we published in this same newspaper a article (March 11, 2022), in which we recalled the great Xavierist experience in Navarra a century ago, favored by the proclamation of the saint as patron of the works of Propagation of the Faith (1904) and of the missions (1927), as well as other decisions of the bishop of Pamplona for the development of his cult.

The celebration of the III Centenary of the canonization of Javier had numerous acts that were enhanced with his reliquary, brought from Rome, together with the Christ of the Crab, arrived from the Royal Palace. Between September 21 and 25, 1922, the celebration of a solemn triduum arranged by the Provincial Council, the National congress of the Missionary Union of the Clergy, the official pilgrimage to Javier and the great civic-religious parade through the streets of the capital of Navarre took place. On the 23rd, the official pilgrimage to Javier was held, with the Provincial Council and the Provincial Councils of the Basque Provinces leading the pilgrimage, as well as numerous delegations from cities and towns, and several prelates. The presence of King Alfonso XIII, who arrived at the castle by car from San Sebastian, gave great importance to the festivities. The pilgrimage to Javier was a prologue to the workshop experienced in Pamplona on September 24, which we already dealt with in the aforementioned article .

We know various details of that workshop thanks to the local press, the handbills, the bulletin of the Diocese of Pamplona and the monographic publication on the Spanish journey of the relics of St. Francis Xavier and St. Ignatius of Loyola in 1922. These are laudatory, overloaded and somewhat pompous reports, in the style of the time, pondering some values around the saint from Navarre and, of course, the authorities who participated in the events. They are texts that still breathe past times, with an intention to empathize with the readers and lead them towards ideals, marking, in many cases, behaviors to follow.

The program designed for the centennial celebrations had as one of the most relevant acts the "Official Pilgrimage to the Castle of Javier", prepared with all care and detail by the board commissioned by the Diputación Foral de Navarra, under the presidency of the mentioned institution, the bishop of Pamplona and with the participation of city councils and parishes of the foral community. Cardinals, archbishops and bishops, as well as the deputies in the Cortes and the Deputations of the Basque provinces and King Alfonso XIII were invited to the celebration.

The reception of the monarch, who came from the capital of Guipuzcoa, in Irurzun, was at position of the civil governor, the vice-president of the Provincial Council and some deputies. From there they went by car to Javier, through Aoiz, so as not to interfere with the road to Monreal where the bulk of the pilgrimage was coming. Floral arches had been prepared in Lumbier and Liédena. As it passed through Sangüesa it was received en masse, to the sound of the ringing of bells, the roar of numerous rockets and the royal march, played by the Band of Music. With its local authorities at the head, it entered under canopy in the parish of Santa María and venerated Our Lady of Rocamador.

The editor of El Pensamiento Navarro stated that Navarre was on the roads that day, on horseback, on foot and above all in a motor caravan that brought with it much popular expectation and produced "a singular impression on the people of the villages".

In Javier everything was ready since six in the morning, with the singing of the rosary by the students of the Jesuits. In El Pensamiento Navarro the work of the board of the Centenary is praised, especially of its manager maximum and soul of those celebrations, Ignacio Baleztena, who was from the first hour taking care of the smallest detail. In a paragraph of Father Eguía's chronicle, really on fire, typical of the moment, we read: "Don't you see the consoling spectacle of the wagon of Pamplona? ... Monreal, Idocin, Navascués, Sangüesa, all there are ready for the popular expectation. One and another caravan of cars, or of any carriages and cavalcades, electrifies them, puts them in tension and paints on their faces the most expressive signs of gratitude and joy. The cardinal purpurate, the ecclesiastical prelates, make them bow their foreheads with devotion".

The whole town was specially decorated for the occasion. The report of the Jesuit Constancio Eguía states: "His Majesty was also very pleased to see the patriotic attire displayed by our buildings and the whole town. The Apostolic School appeared covered with hangings in the openings, alternating the national and Navarre colors. The castle unfurled its flags to the winds. Of the three towers, the pontifical flag was hoisted on the largest, on the middle one, called San Miguel, the Spanish national flag, and on the eastern or lower one the flag of Navarre. The battlements of the bastions were hung with three flags of France, Portugal and Japan, in honor of the three national consuls who attended the celebration. From the windows hung coats of arms of Navarre". In the area of the gables were hung bows, tapestries of the house of Javier and of the Spanish kingdoms.

The reception in Javier, at about eleven o'clock in the morning, is defined in different chronicles as enthusiastic, with thousands of people waiting, bells ringing and fireworks. The king was accompanied by the president of the committee of Ministers and various officials of his civil and military household. He was received at the door of the Jesuit residency program by the Provincial and President of the Society of Jesus, the Provincial Council and civil and ecclesiastical authorities. After a brief rest inside, the solemn Mass was celebrated in front of an altar presided by the canvas of Javier painted by Elías Salaverría, at the sides of which were placed the mace-bearers of the Provincial Council. Julio Arrieta's advice and direction were used to decorate the celebration area, rich damasks were brought from the Provincial Council and the five large Flemish tapestries, valued at that time at one million pesetas. position The musical part was performed by the Orfeón Pamplonés, under the direction of Remigio Múgica, who interpreted the German mass dedicated to the saint. However, the Kyries and the Gloria had to be improvised by the students of the Apostolic School, due to the delay in the arrival of the Pamplona musical group, which joined the celebration after the Creed. The list of prelates, nobles and military and political authorities is very long and it is provided by Diario de Navarra, in the first page of the issue corresponding to September 24, 1922. At the end of the religious official document , the Official Hymn of the centenary was interpreted, composed by maestro Larregla and lyrics by Alberto Pelairea, with the participation of the crowd, since the melody "was already becoming popular".

After the mass, they proceeded to the visit of the Apostolic high school and the castle, stopping in front of the famous Crucifix. At that moment, according to the chronicle of Diario de Navarra, one of the Navarrese deputies, the liberal Valentín Gayarre, stepped forward and pronounced these words: "Sir, we are before a miraculous Christ that according to tradition flowed blood when the saint was in danger; and I take this opportunity to ask your majesty for the pardon of the prisoner Pedro Abós". The monarch replied: "If only this Christ would resurrect the dead! In any case, after some adhesions to the petition, such as that of the director of ABC -Torcuato Luca de Tena-, and a royal insinuation, the president of the committee of Ministers committed himself to study it when he had the transcript. It should be noted that the ABC newspaper was repeatedly involved in the petition for that pardon. The aforementioned Pedro Abós, nicknamed "el Bolo", would be pardoned from his death sentence in December 1922. He had been condemned for having murdered his wife Valentina Martínez Sáinz, during the San Blas festivities in Lodosa the previous year, on February 5, 1921.

The official banquet was attended by numerous authorities and was entertained by Las Pamplonesa. The tables were richly decorated with flowers. The pilgrims were presented with personal bags "with abundant portions of cold cuts, eggs and chicken, desserts, bread and wine". The monarch received the mayors of Roncal with whom he conversed, taking an interest in different aspects of the Valley. As a curious fact, the names of all the representatives of the seven villages of the Valley, who came with their traditional costumes and flags, are also provided. The mayor of Isaba, Dositeo Ochoa, gave this brief speech: "Sir: One of the highest honors for the commission of the seven Roncal villages is to greet Your Majesty and offer your respects. The Roncal Valley, which never backs down, is with Spain, with Navarre and with its King Alfonso XIII. Long live the King!

In the afternoon he visited the monastery of Leire. There he was received by the foral and provincial deputies, who were joined by the curator of the monastery, José Oyaga y Zozaya. The conversation inside the abbey church is reported in Diario de Navarra. In the same one it was treated of the conservation of the monastic set, the king advised "the disappearance of some altars that lack artistic value, so that the magnificent apses that behind them are hidden can be discovered". In the crypt, he slowly examined the capitals and explained "the convenience of raising to the temple the altar of St. Babil, whose only merit is its remote antiquity". It is clear from all these words that the king was totally convinced of the theories of restoration "in style". In this regard, we must remember that, in those years, the trends of intervention in buildings followed two currents. The first "restorer", the majority and following the work of Vicente Lampérez, was in favor of "restorations in style". The second, more in tune with the new European trends, was the so-called "conservative" one headed by Leopoldo Torres Balbas.

Finally, before leaving the monastic enclosure of Leire, he spoke with the priest Miguel de los Santos Caralt, who told him of the desire to establish there the seminar Spanish National Missionaries for China, for which they were already taking the first steps, with the approval of the Bishop of Pamplona. Caralt, an apostolic missionary, was the driving force behind the Missionary Institute of China, established in Barcelona in 1921, to raise funds and train missionaries among the secular priests.

The day ended with a visit of the king driving his vehicle through different streets of Pamplona and the visit to the wards of the Hospital in Barañáin. The testimonies of the workshop and the opinion of the monarch, in the opinion of the president of the committee of Ministers and other eyewitnesses, was highly satisfactory, showing "undying gratitude". However, in terms of popular warmth and affluence, the pilgrimage to the castle on May 15 of the same year, sponsored by the Cajas Rurales, was much more crowded, gathering 7,000 farmers.