Co-Cathedral of Mérida, Spain

In 1479, Don Alonso de Cárdenas, Master of the Order of Santiago, ordered the extension of the chapel with the intention to make it the main church of the city.^[1] In 1620, a bull of Pope Paul V creates the title of titular bishop of Mérida. The bishop was chosen among the priests of the Order of Santiago, that chose the church of Santa María as see of their bishopric.

On 28 July 1994 Pope John Paul II established the Archdiocese of Mérida-Badajoz, making the Church of Saint John Baptist his metropolitan cathedral and co-cathedral the church of Saint Mary Major of Mérida.^[2]

Description

Exterior

The cathedral includes three decorated doors. La Portada de Santa Maria, which opens to the Plaza de España, consists of a lintelled body on which stands a vaulted shrine, framed by two columns with Corinthian capitals, which house a statue of Nuestra Señora de la Guía. The current shrine was erected in 1766 on a preexisting 16th century one, commanded to be erected by Francisco Moreno de Almaraz, Peruvian conqueror. The Puerta del Perdón, on the eastern side of the church, faces the Plaza de Santa Maria. It is an 18th-century neoclassical façade, the work of Mateo Sánchez Villaviciosa. It consists of two parts: the bottom, contains double pillars hewn in the Ionic style and the top has corinthian fluted pillars framing the shields of Mérida and the

Interior

The cathedral is rectangular in shape and consists of three naves (the central one is two times wider than the lateral ones), separated by square pillars, with a detached column on each face upon which pointed arches are alighted. The roof of the auditoriums was originally of a

The high altar consists of two sections. Covered with a vault of tierceron, the first is on a rectangular base and the second on a spectrum, with keys decorated with a rosette plant and the Mystic Lamb. On both sides of the presbytery, under

The central vaulted niche of the second body, which rests on a pedestal base, is occupied by an image of the Virgin Mary, accompanied by the apostles Peter and Paul and the local saints Eulalia and Julia.

Among the apsidal chapels, the Chapel of the Epistola, of the Earls of la Roca, is the most notable. It is divided into two sections and both covered with ribbed vaults, decorated with their shield.

Works of art

The church's interior cathedral contains works of art of great value, including the following:

• Sculpture of Cristo de la O. (mid-16th century)
• Sculpture of the Santísimo Cristo de las Injurias.
• Sculpture of the Immaculate Conception
• Altar supporter from the Visigothic period.

Liturgical feasts in Merida Cathedral

• Holy week. During the
  Passion Week
  , Mérida Cathedral is the scene of a multitude of liturgical and religious rites.
• Corpus Christi.
• Sacred Heart of Jesus.
• Dedication of the Cathedral.
• Assumption of Mary.
• Guardian Angels.
• Immaculate Conception of Mary. On the morning of December 8, the act of the Renewal of the Vow of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by the city council takes place.
• Saint Eulalia main patroness of the city. On the eve of the feast of the Martyr, Saint Eulalia, the sculpture of the patron saint of Mérida goes on procession from the basilica to the cathedral where it stays overnight. After the Eucharistic celebration on 10 December, the image of the saint returns in solemn procession headed by the archbishop of the city to the basilica where the wreath offering and the Solemn Pontifical Eucharist take place.

Notes

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mérida Cathedral.

• Congregation for Bishops: 936–937, archived from the original
  (PDF) on 2015-07-21, Nova constituitur in Hispania Provincia ecclesiastica Emeritensis Augustana - Pacensis et Sedes ad Metropolitanae Ecclesiae statum attollitur.