The churches of Xinzo: the old church, the chapels, the new church (1908-1965) and religious life

History of Xinzo's churches: the ruin of Santa Mariña (1859), the chapels of 1831, the new church of 1908-1965, Holy Week 1954, the old Corpus Christi and the clergy brotherhood of 1900.

Edelmiro Martínez Cerredelo reconstructed the history of Xinzo’s temples from parish and municipal documents. This page summarises those dealing with buildings and religious life.

The ruin of Santa Mariña church (1859-1860)

In 1859 the parish priest, Xosé Gómez Muíños, repeatedly warned of the ruinous state of the roof and north wall of the church, which threatened to fall in the middle of Mass. With the consent of the Concello and a committee of residents it was agreed to rebuild the north wall and build in the nave two semicircular granite arches, able to carry a vault like the choir, and to use chestnut wood for the roof. In April 1860 the priest wrote to the bishop that "the nave of this parish church is in a ruinous state", that part of the roof had sunk more than a vara, that only props prevented collapse and that, on rainy days, water fell inside; the work would cost 5,500 reals in masonry and 3,000 in carpentry, and the church fabric had 5,000 reals available ^[1].

The chapels and the bishop’s visit (1831)

The reports of the pastoral visit by Bishop Dámaso Iglesias y Lago, on 13 June 1831, say that in the parish there were three chapels: Santo André (in Baronzás, documented in 1743), Santa María Madalena (on the Royal Road to Castile, where the town cemetery was, at the present crossing of Avenida de Madrid with Rosalía de Castro street; documented in 1683) and San Roque and San Caetano (on the livestock fairground; documented in 1718). The Concello maintained the two in Xinzo and the one in Baronzás, without their own endowment ^[2]^[3]. The bishop visited the high altar (Santa Mariña), the side altars of the Carmen and the Holy Christ and the altar of Our Lady of the Rosary, in a chapel half of which, with six graves, belonged to the Count of Gimonde, and the rest to the heirs of Xosé Gómez Opazo and of Antonio Villarino; they paid the church fabric in rye as endowment and the count also had the burden of a weekly said Mass ^[3].

The new church: 1908-1965

At the start of the 20th century the church of Santa Mariña was becoming too small. In February 1908 the acting priest, Francisco Arias Moleiro, bought on the bishop’s behalf some land opposite the "egg square" (today Xoán XXIII), for 1,250 pesetas, for a new church; the first project is attributed to the architect Daniel Vázquez-Gulías. Work began without municipal licence, there was an expropriation file for house number 4 on Lepanto street and the parish sold part of a plot at O Formigueiro (1,800 m²) to finance it, but it ended up halted ^[4]. In 1931 the councillor Álvaro Rodríguez Suárez proposed buying the abandoned church (turned into a dump and donkey park) to open a street; it did not prosper. Later the priest planned a second church on the old one’s churchyard land, which would have demolished part of the parish house: fortunately it was not done and the old church was saved ^[4].

In the 1960s, with the chaplains Benigno Moure and Darío Carracedo and the parish priest Cesáreo Sobrado, a new project, "Cristo Rei", was commissioned from the architect Manuel Conde Fidalgo (budget 2,259,012.95 pesetas). It was not built as designed: a more modest church was built, financed by monthly contributions from each family (about twenty thousand pesetas a month) and anonymous donations, and the parish had to sell the rest of the plot. It was finished in 1965 and solemnly inaugurated on Sunday 29 August of that year ^[4].

Holy Week 1954

The town was very religious: during Holy Week the cinemas closed, radio stations broadcast only sacred music and sermons and festivity was practically forbidden. The 1954 programme, printed at the Blanca printing house in Xinzo, announced general communion of men and a palm Mass on Palm Sunday (with a procession of Our Father Jesus of Nazareth and a broadcast sermon), the washing of twelve children’s feet and the procession of the Prayer in the Garden on Maundy Thursday, or the Good Friday processions; the station «Radio Ginzo» (quote) broadcast the services ^[5].

The old Corpus Christi

Until the early 1950s Corpus Christi and the Santa Mariña festivals were held separately, with the town’s main festivities at Corpus; in 1953 they were unified. The programme included giants and big-heads, bagpipes, bands, vermouth sessions, dances with orchestras (Los Chicos del Jazz, Casanovas, Jo, Bellas Farto, Continental, Florida, La Palma, Reñones), fireworks by the pyrotechnician Eladio, football, motorbike gymkhanas and cycle races. The processions were huge, with girls representing the Virtues, angels and the first-communion children ^[6]. Otero Pedrayo wrote in 1961 that the procession "is well worth seeing", with "a crowd of dressed girls representing the Virtues" ^[6]. See Festivals of Santa Mariña.

The clergy brotherhood (1900)

On 1 September 1900 the parish priests, acting priests, curates, presbyters and deacons of A Limia constituted the «Hermandad Eclesiástica del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús de Ginzo de Limia» (quote), based in the church of Santa Mariña: it celebrated the patron’s feast on the first Tuesday of September, with an anniversary Mass for the dead, and required visiting sick brothers, attending funerals within two leagues round and applying three Masses for each dead brother ^[7].