The piece of the month for March 2026

THE CUSTODY OF GALLIPIENZO: AN UNKNOWN WORK FROM MADRID DATING FROM 1756, DONATED BY THE BISHOP OF PUERTO RICO

Íñigo Serrano Sagaseta de Ilúrdoz
graduate History
graduate programs of study

As part of the enormous task of cataloguing and studying the historical and artistic heritage of Navarre, which has been underway since the last third of the 20th century with the publication of Catalog of Navarre and other monographic works on silverware, it is a source of satisfaction to be able to add another page with an unpublished piece: the monstrance of the parish church of San Pedro Gallipienzo.

It is a monstrance, that is, a piece of silverware used to display the Blessed Sacrament for the adoration of the faithful, and with special solemnity on the feast of Corpus Christi. Although the origin of monstrances dates average to leave average the spread of these pieces increased after the Counter-Reformation, with the rise of piety and Eucharistic worship. 

 
Custody. Parish of San Pedro de Gallipienzo, 1756. Obverse.

This monstrance, with silver-gilt hands, is part of 18th-century Madrid goldsmithing. The piece consists of an octagonal base, a shaft, and a canopy. The base has profile and is divided into four sections decorated with scallops, laurels, and Eucharistic motifs, alternating with grapes and ears of wheat. The shaft has an inverted pear-shaped knot, outlined with flat cartoons and decorated with large Cs, leaving the central space smooth and empty. The viril is set with table-cut and rose-cut diamonds and square-cut emeralds, framed by a glory of clouds and cherubs and a burst of beveled rays topped by a cross with vegetal arms. The ensemble is very interesting, both in design and decoration. The knot is undoubtedly the most original part, bearing some similarities to the monstrance in the parish church of Prádena del Rincón, in the Sierra de Madrid.

The base is stamped with the three marks prevalent in Madrid at that time: the maker's mark, the Madrid Villa mark, and the Madrid Court mark. The passage of time and subsequent gilding of the piece have caused the hallmarks to become very faded and practically illegible, although their profile lines are still recognizable, leaving no doubt about the Madrid origin of the piece.

On the edge of the base, there is an registration tells us the exact year it was made and the identity of the donor: "I GIVE THIS TO THE CHURCH OF GALLIPIENZO, 1ST BISHOP OF PUERTO RICO, HIS ILLUSTRIOUS EXCELLENCY PEDRO MARTÍNEZ DE ONECA, YEAR 1756." The text contains one error, as it refers to Don Pedro as the first bishop of that see, which is inaccurate, as he was appointed much earlier. This could be attributed to whoever acted on behalf of the prelate to place the order in Madrid. Furthermore, the spelling and subject the letters, as well as the style of some of them, are not in keeping with the period of the monstrance or the importance of the piece. It seems more likely that the text was engraved at a later date, with ordinary, careless incisions, possibly in the 19th century, to record the prelate's gift.

Inside of the base with the punches.

The report the town and its parish towards the benefactor is evident in the registration written in grade of his baptismal certificate, which reads: "He was Bishop of Puerto Rico in the Indies and died on April 22, 1760."

Pedro Martínez de Oneca (1701-1760) was born in Gallipienzo and baptized in his parish on January 12, 1701. He obtained a licentiate degree both civil and canon law from the University of Salamanca. According to Antonio de Alcedo, he was a canon and provost in the bishoprics of Barbastro, Plasencia, and Tarazona. Once appointed by Benedict XIV to the episcopal throne of Puerto Rico (May 24, 1756), he endeavored to visit the entire diocese, the largest in the world, as it extended throughout the Lesser Antilles and even part of Venezuela. He presented a report extraordinary importance, in which he suggested various measures to promote development improve temporal and spiritual government. His name joins the long list of bishops who ruled the Puerto Rican see during the 17th and 18th centuries, most of whom died at an early age due to the burden of the miter and the harshness of the problems they encountered, sacrificing their lives for the sake of pastoral service.

In the context of an excellent moment for the arts, in what Caro Baroja defined as the "Navarrese Hour of the 18th Century, " bishops and other rulers, nobles, and military figures, after reaching high positions in the administration, remembered their origins and became prominent patrons. Many of them funded charitable foundations and works of art, sending religious objects to glorify their homeland, the town where they were born, and the parish where they were baptized. This is clearly the case with the Gallipienzo monstrance. What is truly unusual about this monstrance is that it did not come from the Indies, but was commissioned in the Villa y Corte (the royal court).

In addition, the bishop of Gallipiano is among the generous donors and protectors of the convent of the Conceptionist Sisters of Ágreda, who were attracted by their emblem, Sister María Jesús de Ágreda, protagonist of bilocations in New Mexico, confidante of King Philip IV, and author of the ever-successful Mystical City of God, in which she traces a biography of the Virgin Mary. Don Pedro Martínez de Oneca founded a festival in that convent in honor of the Virgin of the Choir, one of the Marian icons, within its infraoctava, when the image of the Virgin left and leaves the convent cloister to accompany the faithful in their novena. Devotion to this image spread throughout Spain, reaching the overseas territories, and was the subject of numerous gifts during the 17th and 18th centuries. 

Baptismal record, January 12, 1701. Gallipienzo file in the Pamplona file .

SOURCES AND bibliography:

file of Pamplona, Parish of Gallipienzo, Book 2 of Baptisms, Pedro Martínez de Oneca, January 12, 1701.
ALCEDO, A. de, Geographical-Historical Dictionary of the West Indies or America..., vol . IV, Madrid, Benito Cano Printing House, 1788, p. 315.
CAMPO LACASA, C., General notes on the ecclesiastical history of Puerto Rico in the 18th century, Seville, Publications of the School of programs of study , vol. 137, University of Seville, 1963, pp. 13-19 and 46-48.
CARO BAROJA, J., La Hora navarra del XVIII (people, families, businesses, and ideas), Pamplona, Provincial Council, 1969.
CRUZ VALDOVINOS, J. M., Valor y lucimiento: platería en la Comunidad de Madrid(Value and Display: Silverware in the Community of Madrid), Madrid, Department of Culture and Sports, 2005, pp. 146-147.
FERNÁNDEZ, A., MUNOA, R. and RABASCO, J., Encyclopedia of Spanish and Viceregal American Silver, Madrid, s.n., 1985.
FERNANDEZ GRACIA, R., Art, Promotion and Politics. The Promotion of the Arts around Sister María de Ágreda. Soria, Provincial Council of Soria, 2002, pp. 250 and 290.
GOÑI-GAZTAMBIDE, J., History of the Bishops of Pamplona, 18th Century, vol. VII, Pamplona, Eunsa, 1989, pp. 618-620.
RITZLER, R.- SERIN, P., Hierarchia Catholica medii et recentioris aevi, vol. VI, Patavii, 1952, p. 345
RUBERO REYES, M. A., The Catholic religion in Puerto Rican society. Its relationship with politics and Economics (unpublishedthesis ), Complutense University of Madrid, 2013, pp. 57-58.
Various authors, Juan de Goyeneche and the triumph of the Navarrese in the Spanish monarchy of the 18th century, Pamplona, Caja Navarra Foundation, 2005.