San Saturnino: a place of worship for trade guilds, the Pamplona City Council, and the Navarre Provincial Council

The importance of the parish of San Saturnino in the city’s ecclesiastical and social landscape was also evident in the fact that this church served as the headquarters for numerous religious brotherhoods and professional guilds, as well as the venue for worship services held by important political institutions such as the Pamplona City Council and the Provincial Council of Navarre.

As for the religious brotherhoods, we know that this parish was the headquarters of the city’s stonemasons’ guild, who in 1706 commissioned Fermín de Larrainzar to create the altarpiece dedicated to their patron saint, Saint Lucy. Similarly, since the Middle Ages average , San Cernin was the place where Pamplona’s silversmiths worshipped their patron saint , Saint Eloy, whose altar was located on one of the pillars of the main chapel; after its removal in 1886, the Romanesque patron saint was moved to the sacristy. Other brotherhoods, such as that of Saint Catherine, also had their headquarters here, specifically in what is now the Chapel of Saint Anthony. Among them all, the most important was the Brotherhood of Oculi mei, whose name derived from the opening words of the introit of the Mass for the third Sunday of Lent, on which it celebrated its feast day and held its general as board tion to elect officers. This corporation was the successor to the Cofradía Mayor de San Cernin, which had been responsible for the construction of the church since the 13th century. Its members included the cream of San Sebastián society, who funded major renovations to the church at their own expense. 

Since the establishment of the Pamplona City Council in 1423 as a result of the Privilege of Union granted by Charles III the Noble, San Saturnino has been considered the council’s parish. In fact, a large part of the votive celebrations held by the municipal council throughout the year took place at San Saturnino or involved the parish in some way: San Martín, San Saturnino, San Nicasio, San Jorge, or San Roque. The Lenten sermons, preached by the city’s bishop at the city council’s expense, also took place here, with council members attending from a gallery specially built for the council in 1638. As a result of the expulsion of the Jesuits in 1767, the city council moved its feast day honoring the relics of Saint Francis Xavier to the parish, thus joining the others it had been celebrating for centuries.  The expulsion of the Society of Jesus in 1767 also led the Provincial Council of the Kingdom—and its successor since the 19th century, the Provincial Council of Navarre—to hold its services in honor of St. Francis Xavier, the “ patron saint ” of Navarre, well into the 20th century.