9 March 2011
Course
THE CATHEDRAL OF PAMPLONA. A VIEW FROM THE 21ST CENTURY
Ceremonial and functions. review protocol shared by Pamplona City Council and the Cathedral Chapter.
Mr. José Luis Molins Mugueta.
Chairof Navarrese Heritage and Art
Pamplona City Council - formerly known as the Regiment- and the Chapter of the Cathedral are two corporations, civil and ecclesiastical respectively, which have maintained an intense protocolary relationship throughout the ages. Both are communities made up of individuals, who attain the fullness of their power as a collective aggregate, conceived as a person: as such they are subject to functions, obligations, prerogatives and specific treatments. Even today, when the municipal corporation, from labeland accompanied by its entourage, stages its presence in public acts, we say that it acts "in the body of the city".
As an ecclesiastical chapter, the chapter of Pamplona is a corporation or high schoolof clerics, canonically instituted and attached to the cathedral, which had annexed benefices and whose main purpose was and is promotedivine worship. Between 1086 and 1859 the canons lived in common and practised the rule - regula- of Saint Augustine. subjectThis status as a regular chapter meant that the church of Iruñea had all the necessary facilities for living together: dormitory, kitchen, refectory, Library Services, conference room, chapter house, infirmary, architectural areas which have been preserved for the most part and which today constitute an important part of the collective cultural heritage.
The Privilege of the Union, promulgated by Charles III the Noble in 1423, the starting point from a regulatory point of view for the administration of the unified Pamplona, proved to be the efficient code of its functioning until well into the 19th century. Among many other prudent prescriptions, the document determined the issueand method of election of the mayor and the ten "jurados" or aldermen."or aldermen. And it seems appropriate to refer to the heraldic coat of arms granted in Chapter XV of the Privilege, because the description of its parts clearly alludes to the close relationship between the capital of Navarre and the cathedral, and therefore with its chapter. Thus, after defining that on a field of azure, there will be a lion passant, of silver, and that as bordure it will have the arms of the Kingdom, chains of gold on gules, it then indicates that on the backbone of the said lion there will appear "vna corona real de oro, en seynnal que los reyes de Nauarra suelen et deuen ser coronados en la eglesia cathedral de Sancta Maria de nuestra dicta muy noble ciudad de Pompolona...".
As a protocolary antecedent of honours attributed to the Regiment of Pamplona, it is worth mentioning the double declaration of the Noble King, recorded in the corresponding codex of privileges and dated 1389, where he states that on the occasion of his coronation and anointing, the procurators of Pamplona, preceding those of Estella, Tudela, Sangüesa and Olite, in their own name and in representation of all the other Buenas Villas of Navarre, went to the right stirrup of his horse, on the outward and return journey between the royal palace and the cathedral.
In 1433 the titular queen, Doña Blanca, and her husband, the future King of Aragon, Juan II, formalised a declaration in favour of the City's demand, on the occasion of the differences that arose between the mayor and aldermen of Pamplona and the nobles, rich men, knights and noble sons of the Kingdom, regarding the right to go to the sides and stirrups of the kings at their coronation, to carry the pallium and to hold one of the rings or handles of the pavés, in the ceremony of the coronation, which was held in the church of Santa María. In this case, the document describes both palliums used at the time and indicates that they bore the arms of the City. The Privilege of the Union - Chapter V - already prescribed that whenever the pallium was to be used in the municipality of Pamplona, the mayor and the aldermen were to carry their staffs, in a precise order. A privilege granted in 1441 by Don Carlos, Prince of Viana, on the use of the pallium or "tálamo" in the city and its "corseras", both in processions, joyous festivities or royal funerals, is along the same lines: on all occasions and in perpetuity, the wands must be carried by the mayor and the jurors, to the exclusion of any other person.
It has been a centuries-old custom that, in the functions held in the cathedral, the municipal corporation of Pamplona has been seated inside the presbytery. This is recorded in a certificate authorised by Philip II in Tomar, dated 10 April 1581, in which the king gathered information on the matter. The document states that the seats were arranged around the main chapel, close to its walls: they were occupied consecutively by the Viceroy, the Regent and committeeReal, the Mayors of the Court, the Public Prosecutor, the Auditors of the Comptos and the Patrimonial Court. Immediately after them were the Mayor and Aldermen "in the form of the Regiment and body of the City". This protocolwas also valid for the main chapels of other parish or monastery churches in Pamplona, which were attended by the aforementioned institutions.
Problems soon arose with regard to the priority of posts and even occasions when some members of the courts occupied benches reserved for the municipal corporation. In 1618, King Philip III issued a royal decree stipulating that neither the lords of the Royal committeenor the other ministers of His Majesty should concur with the City in their particular festivities that they had by vote or devotion. In 1659 Philip IV issued another, ordering that, when the case arose, the Regiment would celebrate the funeral rites for kings or princes in the cathedral, separately and after those organised by the Royal committee. This tension and consequent physical distancing were still reflected in the funerals held in Pamplona Cathedral in suffrage for Pope Benedict XV, on 31 January 1922: the local press reports that "the City Council Commission presided over by the mayor, Mr. Landa, and that of the Audiencia with its president, Mr. Ibargüen, used the privilege of occupying their seats, the former in the presbytery and the latter in the choir".
The manuscript entitled Ceremonial y Funciones (Ceremonial and Functions), kept at the Municipal Museum of Pamplona, file, gives a detailed account of the different functions, preferably of a religious nature, which were attended by the City during the Ancien Régime. We see ordinary celebrations, of a fixed or variable date, mostly votive; and extraordinary ones, such as masses, processions, both with the possibility of prayer or thanksgiving, to San Fermín or to Nuestra Señora del Sagrario, Te Deum, royal obsequies.... In all of them, the Corporation of label- the so-called golilla costume - regulated the entire gala and the averagegala or the mourning, as the case may be.
There were ten vows made by Pamplona over the ages, eight of which were made to nine saints: to Saint Gregory Ostiense and Saint George, for having rid their fields of plagues of locusts, spider mites and worms; to the saints Nicasio, Martín, Abdón and Senén, Fermín, Sebastián and Roque, for their deliverance from various plague epidemics during the 13th to 16th centuries. The Cinco Llagas was issued for the same reason. That of Saint Saturnino was issued in 1611, in gratitude for this saint having preached the first fruits of the Gospel in Pamplona.
At first, there were several processions that went to different hermitages or parish churches, because the images for the respective worship were found there. But the abundance of commemorations and the gradual disinterest of the clergy of some parishes in participating led the Regiment and Chapter of the cathedral to agree, in 1625, that the services should be held in the cathedral and that the processions - except for the most important ones - should go through the interior naves and the wings of the cloister. This agreementhad to be clarified, partly corrected by the parties, the following year. And so, with the bishop's approval on 28 November 1626, it was established that on the feast days of Saints Sebastian, Gregory, Martin, Nicasius, Abdon and Senen the processions would leave and return to the cathedral to celebrate mass and a sermon in the church. The clergy of the parishes were to accompany the Chapter on the journey, although they were not obliged to stay for the celebration. In the commemorations of St. George and St. Roch, which were popular pilgrimages, the processions went beyond the town centre to reach the hermitages located in the outskirts, and the clergy of the parishes with their crosses had to accompany the chapter on the return journey. Finally, the festivities of San Fermín and San Saturnino were held in the chapel of the Patron Saint, in San Lorenzo, and the parish church of San Cernin, places where the Chapter would go, accompanied by the Regiment, guilds, brotherhoods and clergy of the parishes on the way there and back. The most complex and multitudinous procession was that of Corpus Christi, which was therefore proposed as a point of reference in pathway, liturgy and protocolfor the others, which never pretended to reach its solemnity.
When the Chapter returned to the Cathedral, the chapter members stood in the nave of the Epistle, in a line stretched along the outer walls of the choir, and the councillors passed in front of them in hierarchical order, with a profusion of customary venerations and courtesies, before leaving through the main door of the church and returning to the Consistory. In the Chapel of San Fermín during the 18th century, the altar and shrine of the Patron Saint were located, under the dome, in the centre of the Greek cross that forms its floor plan, and therefore in a more advanced position than today. On the main feast day, the Chapter and the Regiment sat in line, facing each other, along the stretch from the gate to the altar, the aldermen on the Epistle side and the canons on the Gospel side. The same procedure was followed on the feast of San Saturnino, on 29th November.
ruleThe concord of 1626 proved to be useful for a long time, with the exception of some situations that gave rise to heated and costly lawsuits for the litigants, the Regiment and the Chapter. Thus, between 1705 and 1709, there was a refusal by the Chapter to attend the processions because the Town Council agreed not to use the Cathedral's Music Chapel for religious functions, an action immediately seconded by guilds and brotherhoods. Finally, the parts were fixed and the statusreturned to its previous state.
A communication from the Regiment in June 1750, in order to carry out a rogatory procession with the image of San Fermín, made to the Town Council in an indelicate manner, was the cause of heated lawsuits in various instances, which were not finally resolved until a ruling was reached by the Chamber of Castile in December 1753. The background was the punctilious mentality of royalties and conflicts between civil and religious powers, as frequent at that time as those documented between private individuals. The sentence was favourable to the thesis of the Cabildo, which is the one who, according to its tenor, consents to the celebration of processions; who organises them and does not attend them as a mere guest; who assigns the day and time for extraordinary processions when there is a problem and for ordinary ones, which are prevented by force majeure. The time will follow the schedulethat is set by the Cathedral clock. In communications, improper language must be avoided....
Miguel Sanz Benito. Corpus Christi Procession. 1849
(fileMunicipal Pamplona).
Councillor of Pamplona in golilla costume. 1817
(fileMunicipal Pamplona).
Canon of Pamplona Cathedral. 18th century.