HUMILDAD Y PACIENCIA

Chapel of Our Lord of Humility and Patience

This is the fourth and final altarpiece in the chapel of San Juan Bautista. It consists of a niche containing a carving of Christ of Humility and Patience, from the Canarian school of the mid-17th century. It is guarded by the Brotherhood of Vera Cruz Misericordia and is carried in procession on Holy Tuesday and Good Friday.

 The altarpiece consists of a single body and finial, entirely carved with cartouches, mirrors and plant motifs, made of mahogany.

On either side of the niche, two estipites display perfect carving and decoration ‘a candelieri’.

The upper part of the niche is occupied by a large scallop shell. Its interior is entirely polychromed, bearing inscriptions that reproduce the text of the first lamentation 12 lamed, from the Lamentations of Jeremiah, whose literal text is as follows: ‘O vos omnes qui transitis per viam, attendite, et videte si est dolor sicut dolor meus’. Which we can translate as "O all ye who pass by here. Look and see if there is any sorrow comparable

to mine!"

The attic is decorated with a canvas flanked by two stipes depicting Saint John the Baptist and Saint Nicholas of Bari.

The tabernacle is carved with small stipes engraved with flowers. In the centre of the tabernacle door is a scale, with a skull on the left-hand side bearing the inscription: ‘Mors est malis’ (Death is evil) and on the right-hand side, a heart in flames with wings and the inscription: ‘Vita bonis’ (Life is good).

All of this is topped by a chalice with the Host, a radiant cloud and the Triangle symbolising the Holy Trinity. Today, the tabernacle with the Blessed Sacrament is located here, which is why this area is specially dedicated to prayer.

On the side shelf of this chapel is an image of St. John the Evangelist, carved by the Murcian sculptor Antonio García Mengual in 1998.