Focus on Cristo de Chircales and explore the Devotion.
The Christ of Chircales had adored an extended regional and local devotion in Valdepeñas de Jaén, where it is the main one of religious devotions. Since the seventeenth century it has been written of its sporadic transfer to Valdepeñas de Jaén on the occasion of begging for epidemics or climatic causes. Since the nineteenth century, and specifically since the morbid cholera epidemic of 1834, its presence in Valdepeñas de Jaén is more common, and from the end of the century it is annual and traditional, where it remains from the first of September, until the last Sunday of October, when it is transferred to its Sanctuary. There is a historical record of his devotion in all the villages of his region, having existed brotherhoods under his advocation in almost all towns and cities.
In 1834 several neighbors of a populous street of Valdepeñas de Jaén, from la Calle de Sisehace, entrusted their health to the Christ of Chircales during an epidemic of morbid cholera, and having not been killed they agreed to the foundation of a bond, through which they would pay for a religious festival in honor of the Christ of Chircales. Over time, around 1855 devotion materialized in the foundation of a Brotherhood to attend to the local devotion to the Christ of Chircales. Since then the brotherhood has thickened his payroll of brotherhoods and took over the Sanctuary and devotion. Today it survives as the only Canonically erected Brotherhood in the town.
In Jaén devotion to the Christ of Chircales had an important value. There is currently a Brotherhood under his canonical-based advocation in the Parish of San Juan de la Cruz, being a member of the Brotherhood and Brotherhood Group of the City of Jaén. Brotherhood with statutes since 1867 and which was based in the Church of St. Bartholomew (Jaén). The Brotherhood, reorganized in 1985, participates annually in the religious festivities held in Valdepeñas de Jaén, and the ones it celebrates in its canonical headquarters of the capital.
In Martos, the preserved replica is displayed in the Hermitage of San Miguel, a 19th-century copy of the painting of the Christ of Chircales, belonging to the artistic legacy of Don Antonio de la Torre Arias, great devotee of this image. Originally the painting must have been in his palace house, then passed to his funeral pantheon of the municipal cemetery, from where he passed to the Church of San Francisco, and from this, in present time to the Hermitage of San Miguel, belonging to the Parish of the Assumption.
In Alcaudete, José de Torres Ortega, the devotion to the Christ of Chircales had been traditionally dedicated to many devotees currently it still exists in the Caserío 'Chircales', a farmhouse that was owned by it, a chapel dedicated to the Christ of Chircales, where a popular pilgrimage was held. Being also the name of Chircales, a wide location of the municipality of Alcaudete.
In Jamilena there is evidence of devotion to the Christ of Chircales, and of the usual pilgrimage to his Sanctuary. In 1798 he died in an accident, after a wall had been tached from the hospedería, the neighbor of Jamilena Cristóbal Barranco Liébana, who was buried in the Church of the Sanctuary.
In Torredonjimeno it is also common to find references to the historical devotion of the Christ of Chircales. And from this devotion are located some votive pictorial works that were given away by the faithful to the Sanctuary. The former president of Torredonjimeno has the following inscription: Estando Francisca de Rada gravemente enferma, con un tabardillo, su madre María de los Dolores Lendínez, miró al Santísimo Cristo de Chircales, pidiendo su salud y estando en esta súplica consiguió su perfecta salud. Esta enferma es vecina de Torredonjimeno. Año 1856.
Valdepeñas de Jaén