St. John’s Brotherhood
Vera - Almería

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The warmth of the people has made the Saint John brotherhood one of Vera town’s most loved. Three and a half centuries of history parade every Easter Thursday the everlasting fervour of the devout.

The Royal and Venerable Brotherhood of Saint John the Evangelist and Christ of the Misery; Brotherhood of Penitence and Charity was formed on an unknown date in the second half of the 17th century, protected by a consolidated brotherhood, as was the Brothers of Holy Christ.

The grand recognition comes in the Easter Thursday procession, although the brotherhood’s activities start earlier. Easter Week Monday, on the day of feet kissing, there is the anticipated transfer, with the distant sound of drums and cornets, of the sacred images from the Canonical see in the Incarnation Church to the House of the Brotherhood, located on the corner between Plata street and the Andalucía plaza.

It is the time when not only the brothers are the bearers but each one of the faithful who wish to can participate in this preparatory act to Holy Thursday.

Grand religious fervour greets the Holy Christ of the Misery, the brother’s oldest jewel, a Crucified Christ by an unknown artist, and which dates from the 17th century. Sixty men have the responsibility for carrying it.

Next to the Prayer in the Garden; a work of sculpture, carried by bearers, which is formed by Our Lord praying to heaven, a 2002 work by the religious image artist Jesús Curquejo before the presence of an Angel, by an unknown artist, made in 1942. The ensemble is carried by a total of 35 bearers.

The last of the great imagery jewels is carried exclusively by women. A total of 60 of the devout take it up to parade as a group the sculpture made up of the Holy Mary of Grace and Hope next to Saint John the Evangelist. It is a work by the religious image artist Emilio López; the image of the Virgen dates from 1996 and the Evangelist from 2007.

Since 2013, the staff and the gala banner have been carried and escorted by members of the Guardia Civil.

The Saint John brotherhood’s centuries of history have been surrounded by great devotion up to the steps of the station of penitence, but also by the increasing non-religious activity, the cultural, which has become a reference in the locality’s social life.