9 minute read
Valentina Lupo, Maria Grazia Zenzari and Jonathan Farrugia
from Vigilo 58
by dinlarthelwa
THE WHITE SCAPULAR OF THE TRINITARIANS
Advertisement
by Mark Agius, Valentina Lupo, Maria Grazia Zenzani, Fr Jonathan Farrugia
Jesus Nazzareno de Medinaceli in the Basilica of Jesus Nazzareno, Madrid. Credit: Archimadrid/ José Luis Boñano, Wikipedia. On the altar of the Oratory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta there is a devout image of Christ known as the Nazzarenu—the Nazarene. The Oratory has derived a name from it, as it is locally known as the ‘Oratorju tan-Nazzarenu’, so the image must have been the object of much devotion.
The image is a bust attributed to Carlo Darmanin, who also contributed a bust of Our Lady of Sorrows to the Oratory. Christ is depicted as crowned with thorns, with both hands tied, and wearing the white scapular of the Trinitarian Order. The scapular is white, with a cross on it made of a perpendicular red bar on a transverse blue bar, the symbol of this order.
This raises many questions about this devotion. The Trinitarian Order has never been present in Malta, so why the white scapular? What is the link between this Order and Christ crowned with thorns? Why is this image present in the Oratory of a Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel? Indeed, why is this image called ‘in-Nazzarenu’? And why is this image, as a bust, or a full-length statue or a painting, always wearing the white scapular of the Trinitarians, present in a number of churches in Malta?
The Trinitarians are an Order founded to ransom Christian Slaves from the Moors. Trinitarian friars would go to North Africa, find Christian slaves, and buy their freedom.1 Then the ransomed persons were given the Trinitarian Scapular to wear around their neck as a safe conduct with which to travel back to Christian lands through the land of the Moors.2, 3
The ‘Nazzarenu’ is based on the Spanish Christ Nazarene of Medinacoeli, the original of which is in the homonymous Basilica in Madrid. Medinacoeli is the area of Madrid where the Basilica is located, named after the noble family who donated the land to build the Basilica in honour of the Nazarene. The image is also known in Spanish as ‘Nuestro Padre Jesús de Medinaceli’, or ‘Jesús Nazareno Rescatado’. It is an image of Jesus of Nazareth that evokes the moment of his Passion when Pilate presents him to the people—the Ecce Homo (John 19:5). The original effigy dates from the first half of the seventeenth century. It may be by Juan de Mesa or Francisco de Ocampo.4, 5
From its name ‘Jesús Nazareno Rescatado’ (Jesus the Nazarene Ransomed), comes the name for all images based or copied from this, be they full statues, busts or paintings—‘The Nazarene’ or ‘in-Nazzarenu’.
The statue was brought by the Capuchins to La Mamora, a city in Morocco (close to Tangier and a stronghold of Berber pirates14) that was captured by the Spanish Catholic monarchy in 1614. 4 The Capuchins intended the statue to be venerated by soldiers. In April 1681, the city fell into the hands of Sultan Moulay Ismail, whose army of over 80,000 soldiers outnumbered the 150 of the Spanish army.9 Moulay Ismail decided to send the statue to Meknes as a sign of victory.
On the express order of Sultan Moulay, the image was dragged through the streets of Meknes as a sign of hatred against the Christian religion and it is said that, as if it were human flesh, it was thrown to the lions to be gnawed.5 A Discalced Trinitarian Father, Fray Pedro de los Ángeles, seeing this happening, decided to speak to the Sultan and request the rescue of the image as if it were a living being.5 He asked for the ransom of seven sacred images in exchange for seven Moors, which the Sultan could choose from among the prisoners captured by the Spaniards,6, 7 together with as much gold as the weight of the image.
It is said that the Sultan allowed the Trinitarian father to guard the image until he collected the money for its ransom, threatening that, if he did not do so, he would burn him and the image.5 By order of Carlos II,8 the Father General of the Order sent Fathers Miguel de Jesús, Juan de la Visitación and Martín de la Resurrección to be mediators and they managed to convince Sultan Moulay to agree to the ransom of the image by paying its weight in gold.5 The legend states that the scale was exactly balanced when thirty coins (referencing the thirty pieces which were the price of Christ’s betrayal) were placed on the scales. Over and over again this operation was carried out, with the same result. Thus, its weight was reduced considerably, to the annoyance of the Sultan. Faced with this unexpected prodigy, the enraged Muslims decide to burn the effigy, but a plague that spread through the city as a punishment, forced them to ignore the image with it thus being definitively rescued.8
The purchase was made by the Trinitarians, and as proof that they had bought it, the scapular of the Holy Trinity was placed around the neck of the image in order to serve as a safe-conduct to allow the image to pass into Christian lands and signifying that the Trinitarians had paid for it.4 The ransomed image was taken to Tetouan, and from there to Ceuta. From Ceuta the images were sent to Algeciras10 and through Gibraltar, and from there to the Convent of the Discalced Trinitarians in Seville where they remained until the end of July.5, 10 The statue arrived in Madrid in the middle of 1682, with the reputation of being miraculous and where from the start it received great devotion.4 Upon its arrival, a large procession was organised, and it began to be known as ‘Jesús del Rescate’ (Jesus of the Ransom).4
There has never been a convent of the Trinitarian Order in Malta, however during the time of the Order of St John, the possibility of being captured and taken as a slave was real. However a Confraternity of the Holy Trinity, which was associated with the Trinitarian Order, existed in Senglea, a maritime city. This history of this Confraternity is relevant here. In 1651, the altar of the Trinity was built in the parish church of Senglea, and on 12th October 1652 the Confraternity of Holy Trinity was founded on this altar and confirmed by the Holy Apostolic See. This was the first Confraternity in Malta with this title, but at that date it did not yet have any members. The first enrolment of members occurred in 1669, and that year the Confraternity received an Episcopal decree of foundation on 23rd December 1669.11
In 1784, a statue of the Ecce Homo was made by Dun Bert Ellul, the vice parish priest and a member of the Confraternity. It was honoured on the altar of the Blessed Trinity. A devotional feast was held for it, and every Friday a chaplet was said before it, throughout the year.11 Later it was placed in a pilaster between the Rosary chapel and the nave of the church, and today it is on the altar of the
The first ‘Trinitarian’ Nazzarenu in Malta at the Senglea Basilica.
Rosary.12 Since it was intended for devotion on the altar of the Confraternity of the Trinity, it wears the Trinitarian white scapular, thus referring to the story of the Christo Nazzareno described above, with its links with the Trinitarian Order.13 In 1810, Wenzu Dalli paid for a purple cloak for the Ecce Homo.12 This might explain a tradition that the statue was given by a family from Senglea in thanksgiving for surviving the French Blockade13 (while the statue had been made earlier, in 1784). This seems to be the first statue inspired by the Christ Nazarene of Medinacoeli in Malta.
The link between the ‘Nazzarenu’ in the Oratory of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta and the Confraternity of the Trinity in Senglea is very simple: the sculptor of the ‘Nazzarenu’ in the Oratory, Carlo Darmanin, was a member of the Confraternity of the Trinity in Senglea.
The death of Karlu Darmanin on 25th November 1909 is recorded thus in the registers of the Confraternity of the Trinity: ‘Ġie midfun fiċ-ċimiteru ta’ l-Addolorata f’wieħed milloqbra tagħna, li jġib in-numru 67. Kien ilu ħafna fratell, u f’żogħżitu kellu ħegga kbira. Ma kienx jonqos għal-laqgħat, u lill-Fratellanza tagħha kien iħobba hafna’.12 (translation: ‘He was buried at the Addolorata cemetery in one of our graves, bearing the number 67. He had been a brother for a long time, and in his youth he had a great enthusiasm. He did not miss meetings, and loved our Brotherhood very much’).
Karlu Darmanin executed several other works for the Carmelites of Valletta, including the statues of Our Lady of Sorrows and of Beato Franco, and a set of angels which are today set up in Republic Street in Valletta during the Our Lady of Mount Carmel feast, as well as four Carmelite saints (Papa Telesforo, Papa Dionisio, San Cirillo, San Andrea Corsini) which are usually set up in Piazza Regina during the feast.14 Hence he must have had ongoing dealings with the Carmelites.
Another interesting point about Karlu Darmanin, which links him with the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Senglea, is that he added the Child Jesus statue in papier mâché to the statue of Our Lady of Doctrine, when it was modified to become an Our Lady of Mount Carmel statue in 1888 after the two Confraternities of Doctrine and of Mount Carmel were amalgamated into a stronger Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Senglea in 1838.12 One wonders whether he was a fratell in the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Senglea.
As a fratell of the Confraternity of the Trinity, he would have known about the tradition of the Ecce Homo wearing the Trinitarian Scapular as a sign that He had been redeemed, and he would have experienced the devotion to the Ecce Homo in Senglea. It is to be noted that in his sculpture, the scapular is part of the sculpture, and not just placed on the Christ—it is an integral part of the image.
Thus, it appears that Karlu Darmanin was strongly influenced by his devotion to the ‘Nazzarenu’ of the Trinitarians in his design of the bust of the Nazarene for the Confraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Valletta. As for its date of completion, it is not mentioned in inventories prior to the 1890s. The Confraternity asked for an indulgence to be given to the ‘Nazzarenu’ in c.1898.
Notes: (1) https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/ trinitarians; (2) https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15045d.htm; (3) https://www.catholicculture. org/culture/library/view.cfm?recnum=6147, ‘Order of the Most Holy Trinity’ by Helen Walker Homan; (4) https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_de_Medinaceli; (5) https://jesusmedinaceli. archimadrid.es/; (6) https://www.lanuovabq.it/it/cristiani-perseguitati-la-preghiera-dei-trinitari; (7) https://www.cappuccine33.it/preghiera/gesu-nazareno/; (8) https://www.devocionario.com/ jesucristo/nazareno_4.html; (9) https://www.archicofradiajesusmedinacelimadrid.org/; (10) https://www.lalucedimaria.it/gesu-nazareno-riscattato/; (11) Alexander Bonnici, L-Isla fi Grajjiet il-Basilika Santwarju Ta’ Marija Bambina, vol. 2: 1635–1786 (1986); (12) Alexander Bonnici, L-Isla fi Grajjiet il-Basilika Santwarju Ta’ Marija Bambina, vol. 3: The Last 200 years (1991); (13) https:// www.youtube.com/watch?v=AseOoCpamJk&t=212s&ab_channel=VictorCaruana; (14) Pietro Paolo Castagna, Lis-Storia Ta Malta bil Gzejer Tahha, vol.1, p. 214.
