My aunt transmitted her devotion to meâ€, says the Barcelona teacher Pilar Calafell at the feet of the Santo Cristo de Lepanto, which looks radiant as a result of the restoration: it is no longer black. “I have a special bond with the cathedral – he continues -. My two children were baptized here and I come for Corpus Christi, l’ou com balla, and other special holidays. And if you have time, I’ll tell you a story that gives you goose bumps.” Forward!
“My father had suffered a stroke years ago and his left side was paralyzed. In the summer of 2001 he got worse and we had to give him food with a syringe through a tube. I was only able to do it once, on August 20. My father would not have wanted it. He was very vital and he always said: ‘Life is a tango’. The next day he came to ask Christ that his agony would not last. I went down the stairs of the cathedral and went up again: ‘I’m telling you,’ I told him. At the door, a couple was dancing a tango. When I got home, they had called from the hospital because he had died. That showed me that the Christ of Lepanto listens to me. More than praying, I talk to him.
Calafell is one of the many people who have come to the Sant Sever chapel these days to contemplate the restoration of the most revered image of the Barcelona cathedral, like Esperanza Sánchez, who comes from Abrera: “It seems perfect to me that they have cleaned. I do not look at the color of the skin, because it is only an image â€.
After praying before the Holy Christ, Sánchez explained to La Vanguardia that his devotion came from his sister: “My brother-in-law had a tumor and it healed. I come on the seven Fridays of Lent and I pray for my health because I have already undergone three kidney transplantsâ€.
After the eleven o’clock mass in the chapel of the Blessed Sacrament, the place where the Christ of Lepanto is usually except during the weeks of Lent, some of the faithful go to the opposite chapel to see him. Dodging the tourists, unaware of the mutation that the image has undergone, the faithful pray, above all they pray to the Holy Christ, without giving excessive importance to the fact that it is now white.
“People are surprised towards good,” says Marc Muñoz, one of the informers who work in the cathedral. In fact, the restoration has been very fast: “It still came out for Easter.”
“I was stunned to see him so white,†says Antònia Joan, who declares herself devoted: “Occasionally it happens to me and it is true that before, since it was so dark, you couldn’t see his physiognomy. Perhaps now they have passed, but I will continue to be just as devoted.
Teresa Graell comes expressly because of the memory of her father: “He was devout and I don’t know what he would think. Now it is seen more, yes, but I am a musicologist, I am not understoodâ€.
LluÃs Ignasi Bonastre, first master of the Cos de Portants of Sant Crist de Lepant, declares: “After the initial surprise of the thirty bearers, we have been recognizing your image, with that placid smile, the way you look at you and understand you. The restoration highlights the part of the side, of the wounds: now it is a more heartfelt Christ. It could be an opportunity to relaunch the devotion of the people of Barcelona for him. I also want to highlight the history that we carry with us, perhaps since the 13th century. For many hundreds of years, this Christ has passed through many hands and that strengthens the tradition.”
Catalan version, here
