The piece of the month of October 2014

CELEBRATION OF THE 3RD CENTENARY OF THE CANONISATION OF ST.
OF SAINT TERESA OF JESUS (PAMPLONA, 1922)

 

Ana Mª Hueso Pérez
file Municipal Council of Pamplona

The file Municipal de Pamplona houses a photograph which, like so many others, adds to the small graphic history of our city. Morphologically, it is a chemically developed gelatine copy on baryta paper (17x12 cm), representing the appearance of the façade of the church of the Convent of Santa Ana, of the Discalced Carmelite Fathers, on the occasion of the third centenary of the canonisation of the city. The work was made by the Pamplona-born photographer Aquilino García Deán (1864-1944) and was taken on the occasion of the celebration of the third centenary of the canonisation of Saint Teresa of Jesus in 1922.

III Centenary of the Canonisation of Saint Teresa
Aquilino García Deán, 1922
Photograph: file Municipal of Pamplona

 

Documenting a photograph, when it has been decontextualised from the event it represents, as is the case here, involves the arduous and exciting task of research in any source available. The enquiry of the magazine La Avalancha, of which Aquilino García Deán was first partner and then director , confirms that the image was obtained between 6 and 15 October, when the Community of Discalced Carmelite Fathers, together with the Diocesan Councils, dedicated a solemn novena in honour of the Spanish saint and a public procession, for which the façade of the church was decorated during those days, and was splendidly illuminated at night.

These were the last, but not the only, events held in Pamplona in honour of Saint Teresa of Jesus. The local daily press(Diario de Navarra and El Pueblo Navarro) reported on 22 February 1922 on the constitution of a board of ladies to organise the festivities in the Guenduláin palace, under the presidency of the Countess. It was announced at the time that solemn religious functions would be held, probably a literary event, of which we have not yet located any references, and a pilgrimage from Navarre to Saint Teresa's native city, which took place between 1 and 8 June, with devotees from Alava and Gipuzkoa joining in.

It is not known who was the author of the curious iconographic programme developed on the monumental façade by Pedro de Azpiroz (1673) to honour the Seraphic Doctor and Spanish Egregious Saint Teresa of Jesus in such a way that the sculpture of the convent's patron saint was hidden, Saint Anne, housed in the open niche in the central street of the main body above the portico, by fitting a canvas, perhaps from the convent's pictorial collection, depicting Saint Teresa, into the niche. In the side streets, below the coats of arms of the Order of Carmel, there are two panels with the noble coat of arms of the Cepeda y Ahumada family and an allegorical text composed of four verses(Venera de ciencia pura / Prez magnífica del Cielo/ De España tú eres la gloria/ Oh Serafín del Carmelo!).