It was 12:21 p.m. when the archbishop, Monsignor Juan Jose Asenjo, canonically crowned the Virgin of Victory. Thus, a long wish of the Brotherhood of Cigarreras has been fulfilled, which in recent years has prepared this moment with great care . La Dolorosa, without a doubt one of the images with the most artistic value in the city, has received the crown at the Jubilee Altar, dressed in the white skirt by Rodríguez Ojeda and the dressing room mantle that Jesus Rosado embroidered for her a few years ago.
Thus culminate the great days lived by the Brotherhood of Remedies, in which it has given ample samples of category and good work. There is still the great and joyous procession back, which will take the Virgin to visit the chapels of Jesús Despojado or las Aguas, but that will start at 4:30 p.m.
The coronation ceremony was celebrated with all the pageantry typical of these occasions. The Cathedral, where the echoes of Hispanic Day still persist in the form of floral offerings before the tomb of Christopher Columbus, has worn its best clothes for what may be the last coronation before Asenjo’s retirement, since that of the Virgen de los Angeles de los Negritos will be before the monument of the Immaculate Conception in the Plaza del Triunfo.
The Virgin of Victory, by the parish of Los Remedios
A wide municipal representation has also participated in the ceremony. Among them, the mayor, Juan Espadas and the deputy mayor Carmen Castreno, who is a delegate of the Los Remedios district; and Juan Carlos Cabrera, Councilor for Festivals.
In his homily, the archbishop explained the importance that canonical coronations have had for the Church throughout history and recalled what it must mean for the brotherhood. “We crown it with a material jewel. We must also crown her, and this is what is decisive, in the intimacy of our hearts as queen and mistress of our lives. When two years ago I received the Big Brother who asked me for the coronation at the Archbishopric, I asked him that the event have an eminently spiritual and evangelizing coloration, and that no other purposes be sought than the deep renewal of the Christian life of the brothers and the increase of his love for the Virgin. I also asked them not to forget the poor, with a truly appreciable, visible and identifiable social action.
Return of the Virgen de las Cigarreras to her neighborhood
Monsenor Asenjo has also revealed the reason for choosing the motto La Virgen de la Victoria en el corazón: “Yes, dear brothers and sisters, let us put the Virgin at the center of our lives. Let us walk with her, placing her as the banner of our pilgrimage on this earth. What better company than Maria’s! May, starting today, with renewed joy and commitment, the Virgin of Victory be the center of our thoughts, the north of our desires, the support of our struggles, the balm of our sufferings and the redoubled cause of our joys”.
At 16:30 the return procession has begun. The Virgin left the Cathedral at the edge of five in the afternoon. The heat has been the predominant tonic at the beginning. At the Town Hall she has been received by the mayor and part of the corporation in an act that is repeated, practically traced, in all outings of this type. After leaving the platform, the Virgen de la Victoria undertook a beautiful tour of the Arenal neighborhood before crossing the bridge and walking through the streets of her neighborhood, where the Brotherhood of Cigarreras is increasingly felt.
