September 28, 2013

Conference

The image of St. Michael in Navarrese Art

D. Ricardo Fernández Gracia
Chairof Navarrese Heritage and Art

History and devotion around the Prince of the Angelic Hierarchies
St. Michael is the most popular of the archangels and the one with the most defined personality. He is associated with a knight, an arch-strategist, the constable of the heavenly militias (prínceps militiae angelorum), for having fought against the rebellious angels and, at the same time, for having saved the Woman of the Apocalypse who had just given birth, symbol of the Virgin and of the Church, by fighting with the seven-headed dragon. The Catholic Church has always considered him as a special defender (custos Ecclesiae romanae).

His cult, as protector of the Hebrew people, is documented in Asia Minor in the 3rd century, from where he reached southern Italy and Rome in the 5th century. The famous apparition on Mount Gargano in 492, so often depicted in Gothic and Renaissance painting, was a fact B in the spread of his cult that spread strongly from the eighth century, especially in monasteries erected on the summits. As prince of the celestial militia he became the protector par excellence of various kingdoms, invoking him in several of them on the occasion of the reconquest. The protection against evil and the enemy was traditionally linked to this victorious archangel against the evil one who, in the form of a demon or monster, is usually at his feet in most of his representations.

The cult of St. Michael in Navarre has its roots in the High Ages average, in line with what happened throughout the West. The kingdom of Pamplona had him as a special protector, as it seems to be clear from some figurative representations next to the royal family. The armies of the armies of the monarchs of Pamplona and Navarre had him as a special protector. The bishop of Pamplona Miguel Perez de Legaria (1287-1304) ordered his feast day to be celebrated with solemnity and octave. In the 14th century the monarchs of the house of Evreux, in the image of the French royal house, professed special cults to him, as Roldán Jimeno recalls. With the Catholic Reformation, after the Council of Trent, his cult acquired a new character, since his triumph over Lucifer was associated with the triumph of the Catholic Church over the Protestants, represented as an enormous dragon.

In plenary session of the Executive Council seventeenth century the chronicler and analyst of Navarre, Father Moret referred to Saint Michael thus: "The nation of the Navarrese was in all centuries so devoted to the glorious Archangel, from the beginning of the restoration of Spain, in which from fathers to sons has been inherited the report of having experienced very singular sponsorship his in the wars against the infidels, and he has it so recognized by defender in the very old and superb temple of San Miguel de Excelsis in the highest summit of the Aralar mount, where it seems he wanted to place, as in eminent watchtower for sentinel, that he watched over the public health of the kingdom, and in honoring his natives very frequently with his second name". Shortly before he wrote this, in 1642, another religious, Friar Gabriel de la Anunciación, encouraged the City Council of Pamplona to join other institutions and ask for the board of trustees of San Miguel for the Hispanic kingdoms, through the vows of towns and cities. This idea came from a Navarrese, whose name is not indicated, so the first petition in this sense came to the capital of Navarre.

Saint Michael
Main altarpiece of the parish church of Santa María de Los Arcos.
 

Titular of parishes, sanctuaries and hermitages.
In Navarre the parishes dedicated to the archangel total, according to Caro Baroja, forty-six, so he is only surpassed by the Assumption, San Martín, San Pedro and San Esteban. The issue of hermitages that San Miguel has under its invocation is placed by Fernando Pérez Ollo around 130, being the one that has more of the saints in Navarre, since San Juan follows him that does not arrive to one hundred, and San Martín and San Pedro almost with seventy. With respect to the dedicated confraternities, Silanes gathers those of Lizarraga Ergoyena, Araiz, Marcaláin, Yanci, Cascante, Arguedas, Fitero, Buñuel, Cortes, Falces, Iracheta, Bézquiz, Esténoz, Aranarache, Viana, Bargota, Erául, Izalzu, Mezquíriz, Iroz, Lerga and Eslava.
The dedication of some singular temples to San Miguel, in strategic and frontier places, such as the sanctuaries of San Miguel in excelsis and Izaga, or the parishes of Corella, Cortes and Cárcar, is also significant. Factories from the early medieval period to the present day make up a rich architectural heritage with the reference of San Miguel.

Oteiza's main altarpiece in La Solana, with St. Michael as the titular figure
 

Iconography: some outstanding examples
In most of his representations he appears in warrior's attire with the spear or sword triumphant over Lucifer, represented as a dragon, although as a psychopomp archangel. He is also represented leading the souls and weighing them in judgment(psychostasis), appearing in many of the paintings of the Souls in Purgatory.

In the Codex of Albelda (976), the monk Vigilano placed his image with those of Christ and Mary, to insist on his protection over the kingdom of Pamplona and the royal family. To the last third of the 10th century belong the reliefs of the Shrine of Our Lady of Fair Love of Villatuerta, whose images, according to Soledad Silva "transcend the concrete circumstance of a warlike campaign to become a metaphor of the power of the Pamplona monarchy".

Of the arts of the Romanesque period it is necessary to emphasize the exceptional set of the cover of the parish of San Miguel de Estella. In its warrior version it appears in capitals of Estella, Leire, San Pedro de Olite, Puente la Reina..., etc. and weighing the souls in Estella, Sangüesa and Larumbe.

From the Gothic period we will highlight for its relevance a relief of the door of the Judgment of the cathedral of Tudela and the central panel of the altarpiece of Barillas, from the third quarter of the 15th century, made at the expense of Carlos Pasquier de Agorreta, lord of Barillas, who is portrayed as a donor, along with his wife.

St. Michael with the Lords of Barillas as donors
Main altarpiece of Barillas
 

To the first half of the XVI century correspond outstanding sculptures of expressivist style of the cathedral of Tudela, Oteiza de la Solana, Corella, Ujué and Eguiarreta. There are also some altarpieces painted with scenes from its history, such as the one in the parish of Cía (c. 1565), the work of Ramón Oscáriz. Of very beautiful invoice is the table of the triptych of the Visitation coming from Olite and conserved in the Museum of Navarre and we should also mention the tables of Juan del Bosque (Burlada, today Museum of Navarre) and Juan de Bustamante (Cizur). Other Romanesque carvings and Mannerist paintings by the painter Juan de Landa date from the end of that century, among which the superb example from the parish of Cáseda stands out.

San Miguel
Museum of Navarra
 

The centuries of the Baroque left rich examples in painting and sculpture, as well as altarpieces with rich scenographies. Canvases by Vicente Berdusán and sculptures, often processional and eighteenth-century, with their wings unfolded and very theatrical. Among all of them, those of the parish of Corella, the castle of Javier, the main altarpiece of Cárcar, the grille of the chapel of Santa Ana de Tudela, the main altarpiece of Iturmendi or the altarpiece of San Fermín in the ambulatory of the cathedral of Pamplona stand out for their formal value. All of them refer us to models derived from the paintings of Luca Giordano or Neapolitan carvings and those of La Roldana, which were quickly disseminated through prints. In general, they wear a graceful skirt and flowing mantle of richly pleated, armor and helmet. The sword or spear usually end in a cross and keep the devil in chains.