Chapel founded in the last years of the s. XVII, dedicated to the saints Cosme and Damián, it was called "the doctors' chapel". It is located on the north side of the nave of the church.
In the primitive building this chapel did not exist, the space was part of the north courtyard. On the corresponding wall between the buttresses, a romanesque door opened, which can be seen on the map of Father Tosca of 1704. Inside, over the door, the gothic organ was installed, as described in one of the acts of the Visitor of the San Juan Order; you can still see the brackets and holes in the beams that supported it.
During the last years of the s. XVII and early XVIII, the church underwent a remodel to the taste of the time. A chapel with a baroque-neoclassical vault was built in this space. On it was an ancient altar, White, with four Solomonic columns and paintings in the intercolumns. (F. Llorca). It was the Chapel of San Cosme and San Damián, Physicians call, for that is the profession of the saints.
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- Demolition of the false construction of the s. XIX. The domes and plaster of the chapel are appreciated.
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- Ship view in 1967. On the right the chapel of San Josemaría still covered with plaster.
So it continued until 1967, when the recovery of the Historical Complex began, rebuilding the current chapel, in harmony with the adjacent chapel of the Immaculate or Chapel Castrense, currently of the Passion, Gothic work by the architect Pere Balaguer.
This Chapel of San Josemaría is accessed through a pointed arch, similar to that of the chapels on the south side, but with discharge on sturdy columns attached to the wall. The plant is rectangular, five meters long by four deep, it is covered by a rib vault, whose stone ribs converge in a central key and are supported by their respective shoring capitals, no decoration added to size. The simple circular key frames a cross with rounded ends that adapts to its shape.
Beside the Gospel, embedded in the wall, there was the tombstone of the great Castellán Don Manuel de Sada, whose remains, as explained by the documentation that exists in the Regional Archive, they were transferred to Zaragoza.
It's a character, was Gran Castellán de Amposta, Castellanía of the Sovereign Order of San Juan of the Hospital of Jerusalem, currently called Order of Malta, on which the Encomienda de Torrente depended (Valencia), and Captain General of the Kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia. He passed away 2 February 1764, having arranged in his will "that his body was deposited temporarily in the church of San Juan del Hospital, that it is proper to said Religion in the City of Valencia ”. See.: LLORCA, F. "San Juan of the Hospital of Valencia", P. 86.
Currently, the tombstone can be seen in the Chapel of the Confessionals, at the back of the church.
In the center of the chapel a bronze image of Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer has been placed, founder of Opus Dei, who was the driver of recovery for the Christian worship of this temple, that was in a dilapidated state in the sixties of the last century. In 1972 Saint Josemaría visited this church and consecrated the main altar.
This sculpture is the work of the sculptor Rafael Huerta Celaya; Weighs 200 kg., mide 1’85 m. high more 4 cm. foot-base. The pedestal, limestone, Weighs 1.000 kg y mide 84 cm. High. Characterized by the size of the hands, something greater than the natural, in an attitude of blessing and welcoming, as the sculptor wanted to highlight. A bronze replica, from the same mold, has been taken to a church in Melbourne, Australia.
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- Sculpture of Saint Josemaría in Melbourne
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- Iglesia de Saint Mary Star of the Sea, en Melbourne
Saint Josemaría Escrivá de Balaguer, was born in Barbastro (Huesca) the 9 of June of 1902.
Newly ordained priest in Zaragoza, the 28 March 1927, he moved to live in Madrid where he founded the Opus Dei the 2 October of 1928. Saint Josemaría lived in Rome since 1946, where he passed away 26 of June of 1975.
The Roman Pontiff, san Juan Pablo II, beatified him in May 1992 and he canonized him 6 October of 2002, in St. Peter's Square. His party is celebrated on 26 June.
The Opus Dei is a personal prelature of the Catholic Church, whose mission is to contribute to the evangelizing mission of the Church by spreading the universal call to holiness in professional work and in the fulfillment of the family and social duties of ordinary life.
Saint Josemaría had a special devotion to Saint Joseph, father and protector of Jesus, who embodied these virtues of work and holiness in the daily life of Nazareth. He placed Opus Dei under his protection. For this reason, an oil painting representing Saint Joseph has been placed in the chapel dedicated to him., painted with very good technique, in 1825, by Pérez Martín.
Like this, when visiting this space within the tour of the monument, these useful words will come to mind, also for day to day, of Saint Josemaría in his book "Forja": "Look how many reasons to venerate Saint Joseph and learn from his life: he was a strong man in faith; he helped his family, -to Jesus and Mary- with his hard work; kept the purity of the Virgin, who was his wife and respected - loved - God's freedom, who made the choice, not only of the Virgin as Mother, but also of him as Husband and Father ”.
Download print of Saint Josemaría
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