Venerable and Illustrious Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel

The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, founded in 1606, is one of the oldest brotherhoods in Lucena. Its canonical seat is the Parish Church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, and it is distinguished by its deep roots in the upper quarter of the city. Since its origins, it has developed an intense spiritual and social life, safeguarding a valuable devotional and artistic heritage that forms an essential part of Lucena’s religious history.

During Holy Week it organises two processions. Palm Sunday opens Lucena’s Holy Week with the procession of the Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem. On the night of Holy Tuesday, it carries out its penitential procession with the images of Our Father Jesus of Humility and Our Lady of Sorrows, staging one of the most recognisable processions on the local Passion calendar. Alongside this, the Archconfraternity also lives with special intensity the feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, in the month of July, with acts of worship and a procession through its neighbourhood that have become a landmark of popular faith and tradition.

The image of Our Father Jesus of Humility, attributed to Pedro de Mena and dated to the 17th century, belongs to the Granada school. It is a carving of profound artistic quality, notable for the expression of meekness and inward recollection of the Lord, features that reinforce its devotional character and catechetical power. The throne of Jesus of Humility, made in the year 2000, was designed by Fernando Moreno. It follows the Lucena neo-rococo style and is crafted in gilded wood with mirror inlays, in keeping with the Baroque aesthetic typical of Lucena, helping to enhance the solemnity of the procession.

Separately, Our Father Jesus in His Entry into Jerusalem is a life-size dressed image that replaced an earlier one in 1769. The work of Antequera-born sculptor Diego Vázquez de Vega, the donkey accompanying him and its foal are the work of Luis Tibado Lara. It processes on a throne of carved and varnished mahogany wood with plant motifs and cartouches bearing Passion-themed scenes, unveiled in 2025, for which a pedestal acquired in the 1990s for Our Lady of Sorrows was used in its construction.

Our Lady of Sorrows is a candlestick-frame image with a carved head and hands. The artistic quality of this Dolorosa, with her clasped hands, and the date on which she was acquired by the confraternity — the last third of the 18th century — allow us to state with reasonable certainty that her creator was Pedro de Mena Medrano, whose style she fully shares. Lastly, Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a life-size dressed image, dates from 1798 and is the work of Felipe González, a sculpture professor at the School of Fine Arts of Granada.

Among the most notable dates and events of the Archconfraternity are its foundation in 1606, Palm Sunday with the procession of the Pollinita, Holy Tuesday with the penitential procession of Jesus of Humility and Our Lady of Sorrows, and the month of July, dedicated to the acts of worship and procession of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Exceptionally, in 2024, to mark the 225th anniversary of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, extraordinary transfers, a solemn triduum, a hand-kissing ceremony and special processions were held.

The Archconfraternity of Our Lady of Mount Carmel is, in short, a true jewel of Lucena’s religious and cultural heritage. Its images, of remarkable artistic value, together with the stylistic richness of its thrones, make up processions that stand as a reference within Andalusian Holy Week, keeping alive, through popular devotion, a tradition that now spans more than four centuries of history.