The piece of the month of February 2024

TWO DRAWINGS FOR THE RELIQUARIES OF SAINT EMETERIUS AND SAINT CELEDONIUS BY THE SILVERSMITH PEDRO ANTONIO SASA
SAINT CELEDONIUS BY THE SILVERSMITH PEDRO ANTONIO SASA

Javier Munilla Antoñanzas
department of History, Art History and Geography
University of Navarra

Three were the exclaustrations that the monastery of San Salvador de Leire suffered during the first half of the XIX century and that affected in one way or another to the relics that gather us today. The first of them was carried out during the reign of Joseph Bonaparte by the promulgation of a decree of 1809, the second was a consequence of another decree of October 1820 in the framework of the Liberal Triennium, and the third is result of the well-known disentailment of 1836 ordered by Juan Álvarez Mendizábal. This text will focus on narrating the exodus of two relics of the martyrs Emeterio and Celedonio from the Legerense monastery, their arrival at the episcopal see of Calahorra, their return to the monastery and the proposal execution of a pair of reliquaries for these relics. All this, in the framework of the exclaustration of 1820 and the subsequent restitution of the Benedictine community.

Arrival in Calahorra

On October 25, 1820, the Cortes promulgated a new decree-law in whose first article states that "all the monasteries of the monastic orders are suppressed..." among which, of course, is the Benedictine community of the monastery of Leire. At that time, the monks had to leave the monastery in haste and inventories were made of the goods and objects of worship that were kept there. The administration of these goods will be, from then on, the responsibility of Joaquín Javier Uriz y Lasaga, bishop of Pamplona, who will delegate their custody to different religious institutions. Among all these goods was a large collection of relics of different saints that were venerated in the monastery, among them those of St. Emeterius and St. Celedonius. A few months later, in February 1821, the relics of the martyrs would reach the hands of Pedro de Uriz, abbot of the parishes of Santiago and San Salvador de Sangüesa, where they would remain until the cathedral chapter of Calahorra claimed them. We know that during the first months of 1822, the Calagurritan chapter had already received news of the existence of some relics of the martyrs in the parish of Santiago de Sangüesa (Moral, 1967, pp. 142-143), at which point the aforementioned chapter began its efforts to obtain them. To this end, they soon contacted the bishop of Pamplona at contact to provide them with information on their location and characteristics and to intercede on their behalf for the transfer of the relics. The bishop, in a letter of June 1822, responded by warning that the relics were not authentic, but that he would be informed of the matter and that he would do everything in his power to satisfy the wishes of the Calaguritanian chapter. Finally, and according to a notarial document, the relics would arrive at the cathedral of Calahorra on September 12 of that same year, being delivered by the commissioner of the bishop for the matter, Ignacio Rufino Fernández, canon of Pamplona, to Domingo Garramiola and Francisco Corcuera. By then, according to the same document, Bishop Uriz had already signed the authentication of the relics on the 6th of that same month and placed his seal on the box that contained them in order to justify their legitimacy. Concretely, the relics that arrive to Calahorra are "two shin bones, one of each of the said saints", while other relics are kept in the church of Santiago de Sangüesa. Likewise, we know that the two tibias of Saints Emeterio and Celedonio arrive in Calahorra "in a square wooden box covered with painted paper and secured with two white ribbons". Precisely because of the excessive simplicity of the box in which the relics were kept, the chapter of Calahorra considered ordering a silver reliquary, as a more worthy support to house the relics and also to be able to exhibit them for the devotion of the faithful. The aforementioned canon of the cathedral of Navarre, Ignacio R. Fernandez, would be the one in charge of helping the Calagorran chapter in the realization of this reliquary.

Drawings for the Reliquary and Pedro Antonio Sasa

design 1 for the reliquary of the Martyrs Emeterius and Celedonius. Pedro Antonio Sasa. 1821.

Because of this, on August 7, 1822, the aforementioned canon sent a letter to Calahorra in which he proposed to the chapter two different options for the execution of the ornament. The first one (fig. 1) consists of making a reliquary with the same characteristics as the one made by the Pamplona silversmith Pedro Antonio Sasa in 1821 for the cathedral of Pamplona with the purpose of housing the remains of the virgins Nunilo and Alodia. It should be noted at this point that the same silversmith made another reliquary with identical characteristics to guard the arm of St. Veremundo (Fernández Gracia, 2020, pp. 52-53) and that both were paid for by Bishop Uriz. Both reliquaries, of academicist style, would be of subject ostensory with a circular base, very elongated, with decoration of lanceolate leaves and garlands, ending in a cross (García Gainza and Heredia Moreno, 1978, p. 58).

design 2 for the reliquary of Martyrs Emeterius and Celedonius. Pedro Antonio Sasa. 1821.

The second option, much simpler (fig. 2), would be reduced to a base with similar characteristics to the support of the first one, from which a glass tube would start to house the relics and which would end, like the previous one, in a cross. The aforementioned letter signed by Ignacio R. Fernandez was accompanied by drawings of the aforementioned designs in whose margins appeared, also, broken down the amount that the Calagurritan chapter should disburse in case they decided to contract the work. In the first option the figure amounted to 1790 reales de vellón, a total that would be reduced to 880 reales in the case that it was done without gilding, according to the letter. The second design, as the drawing itself indicates, would cost half as much as the first, that is, 895 reales de vellón. The drawings of both designs measure 30.5 cm x 21 cm and are made on paper and in pencil, having used the compass and freehand in their execution. It is necessary at this point to dedicate a few words to the author of the drawings. Pedro Antonio Sasa (1745-1831), born in Logroño, came to live in Pamplona, where he learned the official document with Fernando Yabar and later married his niece. About him we know that he was examined in August and October 1775, that he was a very prolific silversmith and that his works are spread throughout the territory of the Old Kingdom (Fernández Gracia, 2020, p. 31). Returning to the project execution of the reliquaries that brings us together, it should be noted that, in light of the documentation analyzed for this study and taking into account the events that occurred after 1822, it seems that the cathedral chapter of Calahorra never decided on either of the two options and that consequently neither of the projects was executed; or at least no documentary or material evidence to the contrary has been obtained.

The return of the relics to Leire

After the arrival of the 100,000 sons of St. Louis, the Liberal Triennium came to an end, giving way to a new era of absolutist government under the leadership of King Ferdinand VII, who, through various decrees, tried to reinstate the principles of the Ancien Régime. In this framework, on June 11, a Royal Order was sanctioned by virtue of which the convents and monasteries closed three years earlier were reinstated. After this new political change, community life was returned to the monastery of Leire and an arduous task of recovering the relics they had before the exclaustration began. Therefore, shortly after the return to the Leire monastery, the new abbot Manuel Zubiri proceeded to contact with the bishop of Pamplona for the recovery of the lost patrimony (Moral, 1967, p. 143). With this, on March 31, 1824, Bishop Uriz sent an epistle to the Dean and Chapter of Calahorra asking for the return of the relics, to which they responded negatively, arguing that the monastery already had other relics of the martyrs. Likewise, and after several chapter meetings, the Calagurritan chapter sent a letter to Abbot Zubiri on April 22nd indicating its position against the return of the relics. As it is evident, this answer does not satisfy the community of Leire and its abbot writes in May a new letter, that will never have answer, in which he will insist to Calahorra, with a more serious tone, so that they return the relics. In it, Zubiri alludes to a bull of Clement X (1590-1676) prohibiting the removal of any relics from the monastery (Moral, 1967, p. 148).

Given the lack of response, the Navarre abbot decided to send a new letter to the chapter in August, but this time it would be hand-delivered by Julian Pagola, a monk of the monastery, to whom the chapter would have no choice but to respond or cede the relics. When Pagola arrived in Calahorra, the capitulars Francisco Corcuera and Romualdo Mendoza signed a missive to M. Zubiri, on behalf of the cathedral chapter, in which they indicated, once again, their refusal to return the relics, reiterating the same arguments as in the previous ones and pointing out that they considered that they did not contravene the Bull of Clement X. In view of the lack of movement in the positions of the chapter Spanish, the abbot of Lleida sent a new epistle with a more severe tone in September 1824, but received no reply. As a result, on October 13, Zubiri sent a new letter to the prior of the monastery, Antonio López de Bailo, with the firm intention of collecting the relics, to which, in a new letter delivered to the prior, as had happened in August, he received a negative response.

Due to this new civil service examination of refund the relics and seeing that there is no other solution, the abbot of Leire will resort, as he had done during the months of February and March, to the bishop of Pamplona to intercede in the matter and to contact contact with the Calaguritanian chapter to resolve the matter. Thus, on November 10, the aforementioned prelate sent a letter to Calahorra asking for the return of the remains of the saints to Leyre with the least possible delay. Faced with this new request from the bishop, the cathedral chapter of Calahorra was forced to recant its position and finally returned the relics. Thus, on December 11, the prior from Lleida returned to Calahorra, and now the relics were given to him by Pablo Leaniz and Pedro Nolasco, as it is recorded in a document kept in the Calaguritanian cathedral file . In it it is clearly indicated that López de Bailo was given submission the same wooden box that in 1822 had arrived in Calahorra; so we can conclude, as it is logical, that neither of the two existing proposals for the realization of a new reliquary to guard and venerate the tibiae of Saints Emeterio and Celedonio were ever carried out. Finally, the relics would arrive at San Salvador de Leire on December 18, where they would remain until the new exclaustration after the disentailment of 1836, when they would be transferred to Sangüesa and Olite (Moral, 1967, pp. 152-153).

SOURCES AND BIBLIOGRAPHY

file Cathedral of Calahorra. Files 822/1a; 822/1b: Relics of the saints, taken out and returned to the monastery of Leyre. We would like to thank the canon archivist Mr. Ángel Ortega for his willingness to allow us to consult the documentation of the Cathedral of Calahorra file .

FERNÁNDEZ GRACIA, R., De escoplo, pincel y buril: la imagen de san Veremundo desde Irache, Dicastillo, Calle Mayor, 2020.

GARCÍA GAINZA, M.ª C. and HEREDIA MORENO, M.ª C., Orfebrería de la Catedral y del museo diocesano de Pamplona, Pamplona, EUNSA, 1978.

MORAL, T., "El monasterio de Leyre y las reliquias de los santos mártires de Calahorra", Príncipe de Viana, 1967, pp. 106-107, 127-153.