The church of San José in Abanilla
La Parroquía de San José contains a relic of the lignum crucis
The church dedicated to San José is in the heart of the town of Abanilla, and dominates the Plaza de la Purísima which stands in front of it. The building also plays a crucial role in the life of the town, and houses the “lignum crucis”, a fragment of the cross on which Christ was crucified which is still the object of fierce devotion among the local population.
When it was built using funds provided by the Orden de Calatrava, the religious-military order which owned and ran Abanilla from the 15th to the 19th century, the church was located at the western end of the town of Abanilla, where it was placed to cater for an increasing population. Prior to this, there had been a previous Gothic church dedicated to San Benito on the site of the Moorish mosque in the Lugar Alto, and a small church dedicated to San Sebastián and San Roque in the area which is now the Parque de la Ermita on the western edge of the town.
Click History of Abanilla to read more about the background which shaped the development of the church and the municipality
One version of events has it that the church was consecrated by Cardinal Belluga in 1709, but a detailed examination of the relevant archives reveals that the process was not actually completed until 1712, and it was in 2012 that minor restoration work was carried out to mark the third centenary of the building. This followed far larger scale restoration after the civil conflict in Spain which lasted from 1931 to 1939, during which the church was stripped of almost all its archives, religious artwork and sculpture, ornaments and items of worship: in 1964 the ceiling required considerable repairs and re-decoration, and in 1971 the floor was replaced, leaving the original (and the burial stones it contained) concealed in all but one of the side chapels and in the main entry porch.
Some of these gravestones marked the last resting places of the Cabrera family, who were descendants of Ramón de Rocafull, the cousin of King Jaime I “el Conquistador”. It was the Rocafull family who eventually ceded Abanilla to the Orden de Calatrava, and the cross of the Order is featured in the decoration both inside the church, especially on the domed ceiling, and outside, above the main and side entrances.
Despite the pillaging in the 1930s, the building as it stands today is an impressive and visually attractive one both inside and out, with the fairly plain but nicely proportioned exterior contrasting with highly ornamental elements inside.
Architecture and works of religious art
The architectural style of the Iglesia de San José is fairly typical of the Murcian Baroque of the 18th century, with a relatively plain exterior apart from the main entrance, a blue-tiled dome and a single church tower.
At the opposite end from the altar is the choir, which is supported on a marble column, and in the floor of the main entrance porch is a coat of arms dated 1712, the year in which the church was consecrated.
The entrance is surrounded by carved stonework, but even this is not ornate and is certainly not indicative of the striking decoration inside. Above, in a small niche, is a carved representation of San José with Jesus, as well as the ubiquitous Cross of the Order of Calatrava.
The side entrance is modeled on the main one, except that here the niche above the door contains the image of the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepción.
The feature which most immediately grabs the intention inside is the huge altar screen, which is decorated in many colours and in gold leaf and includes representations of San José with the young Jesus and the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepcíon, “la Purísima”. Similar in design to the altar screen of the church of San Miguel in Murcia, the central panels are supported by cherubim and Solomonic columns, suggesting that it may be the work of Jacinto Perales and his brother Antonio.
Other figures represented include San Benito, the patron saint of the Order of Calatrava) and San Fulgencio, the patron of the Diocese of Cartagena, and the statues representing them were created by Nicolás Martínez prior to their arrival in the church in 1958.
But for the inhabitants of Abanilla these are not the most important parts of the church: this honour is held by the small chapel to the right of the altar, which houses the reliquary containing the “lignum crucis” or “Santa Cruz”, the fragment of the cross on which Christ was crucified which made its way to Abanilla centuries ago.
Local legend has it that the lignum crucis appeared in Abanilla during the 13th-century Reconquista of south-eastern Spain from the Moors, although other versions of events suggest that it appeared in the 16th century, following the expulsion of the Moors from Granada.
The silver reliquary, which was created in 1943 after the original reliquery disappeared at the start of the Spanish Civil War, is on display in the church almost permanently, although it is removed during the Fiestas de la Santa Cruz in the first half of May every year so that it can take part in processions and be taken on a tour of the town to visit the sick and elderly. It is an object which is greatly loved and venerated by the population of the town. Click for more information about the Cross of Abanilla.
Other statues contained in the side chapels and used in the Semana Santa processions include works by Sánchez Lozano and Lozano Roca. These data from the 20th century due to the destruction of religious imagery during the Civil War, and the most important figures are representations of El Crucificado, La Dolorosa (by Sánchez Lozano) and Nuestro Padre Jesús Preso (also by Sánchez Lozano).
Visiting the church of San José in Abanilla
The church is open to the public every morning from 9.00 to 13.00, and again in the afternoons one hour before Mass. For most of the year Mass is celebrated at 19.00, but in July and August it is held back one hour until 20.00, and on Sunday an additional service is held at 11.30.
Address: Calle Pío XII, 14, 30640 Abanilla, Región de Murcia (although the entrance is in fact in Plaza de la Purísima: click for map location)
Parish telephone: 968 680045
Click for more information about the Abanilla municipality
