History
The present church was built on the possible site of the old cathedral of the city, razed to the ground in 716 by the warlord Abdelacid. It had been erected by order of King Carriaric under the patronage of Saint Martin of Tours and under the influence of Saint Martin Dumiense, an important figure in the Christianization and cultural splendor of Swabian Galicia, Orense being the last capital of the kingdom until the death of Miro and the invasion and incorporation into the Visigothic kingdom of Leovigild:? According to the writings of St. Gregory of Tours, Carriaric had ordered to bring several relics of St. Martin from Tours in the hope that they could cure his son of leprosy; after a successful recovery, the king ordered to build a temple in honor of St. Martin and another in honor of St. Mary, converting both the monarch and his kingdom to Catholicism by 550
The church was rebuilt in 1084 by Bishop Ederonio after being devastated by Mozarabic and Norman raids. Demolished in 1717 to be rebuilt in the Baroque style at the initiative of Bishop Marcelino Siuri,61 construction was begun by Friar Juan de Samos in 1721 (the year the contract was signed) and continued by Siuri's successor Juan Muñoz de la Cueva in 1722, with the work being carried out by master builders Pedro Serrapio and José Piñeiro. On the north façade, above the entrance door, an inscription in Latin alluding to the primitive temple was placed in 1722:
Description
Exterior
The façade of the temple, which is Baroque in style and has a transept, lantern and dome (according to the Tuscan order), has eight marble columns in the Bas-Roman or Visigothic style (four in the second body and four in the third) and eight Corinthian capitals (two are from the Swabian period and the other two from the 9th century)2 belonging to the old Cathedral of Orense, dated almost all of it in the fifth or sixth centuries, and in a niche in a niche with a stone image of Santa María Madre and, above it, a stained glass window with a reproduction of the carving (previously it showed San Vicente de Paúl).
The façade has three sections and three streets (the two lower sections framed by fluted pilasters), with a pediment on the upper section and two small bell towers on both sides6 flanking the comb that crowns the structure. This comb has a circular coat of arms with a crowned eagle in the center: in the first quarter there is an arm wielding a dagger; in the second a lion; in the third a castle; and in the fourth a tree. On the shield, which represents the arms of the bishop Siuri, there is a cross and around it several cords composed each one by six tassels, while directly under it, surrounding the stained glass, stand out in relief the three theological virtues: Faith, Hope and Charity. At the foot of the temple there are several sepulchral stola tombs and anthropomorphic tombs made on the sábrego (some of them dating from the 5th century) leaning against one of the exterior walls, in the Plaza de la Magdalena.
One of the elements that give spectacularity to the facade is the great staircase leading to the entrance door, which connects the Plaza de la Magdalena with the Plaza Mayor of the city and is the scene of the ceremony known as the Desplante, which recalls the disagreement between the ecclesiastical authorities and the political power occurred in the eighteenth century, when the local government refused to pay for the repair of the staircase.
Inside
Main chapel.
The interior of the temple has a single nave with a Latin cross plan, six simple ribbed vaults (three in the nave, two in the transept and one in the main chapel), rectangular apse, two blind semicircular arches in both walls of the nave (whose ceiling has transverse arches between the vaults), rectangular tribune and a simple circular dome crowned by a cupola in the transept.
Main altarpiece
The temple has two altarpieces at the ends of the transept in addition to the main altarpiece; the latter, made of wood and in the Churrigueresque style,1 has a body with three aisles, a bench and an attic. The central niche, of shell type and framed by stipites, houses a 16th century baroque carving of Santa María Madre, patron saint of tailors,9 while on the sides are, to the left and right respectively, an image of San José and a statue of Santa Teresa de Ávila, the latter of a larger size. The attic shows in high relief the images of Bishop Siuri on the left and of Fray Juan de Samos or Juan Muñoz de la Cueva on the right, both under the figure of God the Father, the whole crowned by a carving of the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove (a detail that is repeated in the keystone of the ribbed vault of the chapel) and guarded on both sides by two round images and two vases.
Altarpiece of the Miraculous Virgin
In the altarpiece located to the left of the transept, of neo-baroque style with a single body, bench and attic, a chestnut wood carving of the Miraculous Virgin is shown in a semicircular niche framed by stipites; this image, work of Nicanor Carballo in 1969 has an electrical installation that allows illuminating the halo and the rays attached to the statue. The whole structure is covered with rockery, being the body and the attic, presided over by a carving of St. Vincent de Paul, separated by a representation of the Miraculous Medal supported by two angels (it is possible that this is the altarpiece that appears in the archives of the bishopric as inaugurated by popular subscription by the Association of the Miraculous Medal on October 25, 1948 in gratitude to the Vincentian Brothers for their 25 years of work in the church).
Altarpiece of the Pietà
At the other end is located a rococo altarpiece of a body with bench and attic which contains, in a square niche flanked by stipes and decorated inside with mirrors, a sculpture of the Pietà of 1775 also in rococo style, showing in the attic the naked cross with the shroud suspended. The whole work is covered with rocaille motifs, the niche being decorated in the upper area with the faces of three winged cherubs and crowned on both sides by two small angels flanking a triangular structure with fins in which there is a relief of the Sacred Heart. On the other hand, in the predella is located an urn in which an articulated image of Christ recumbent from the 18th century is kept,13 one of the pieces that are preserved from the old Holy Week of the city.
Imagery
Next to the altarpiece of the Pietà is a naked cross (carried during Holy Week by the Parish of Christ the King) and a showcase with an austere nineteenth century dress carving representing Our Lady of Sorrows with a countenance similar to that of the Galician brown woman,13 while at the opposite end, next to the altarpiece of the Miraculous Virgin, is a large canvas of the Virgin of the Miraculous Medal, there is a large canvas of the Immaculate Conception of 1684 by Antonio Castrejón (installed in the church in December 1997 and coming from the sacristy of the cathedral) and a replica of the carving of Saint Mary Mother that presides over the main altarpiece, which is taken out in procession during the ceremony of the Desplante, on Easter Sunday, and also in procession on Holy Saturday. Formerly the original carving was lowered from the niche that guards it by a system of pulleys which deteriorated the image, so it was decided to develop a replica, valued at 9000 euros and made by several Portuguese sculptors and painters commissioned by the brotherhood, dated 1395, which makes it the oldest in the city, although due to a period of inactivity of several years, it is usually considered the Brotherhood of the Holy Christ, founded in 1992, as the oldest.
Like the replica of Santa Maria Madre, the images of the recumbent Christ and Our Lady of Sorrows are taken out on Good Friday in the Procession of the Holy Burial (for the occasion, the figure of the recumbent Christ is placed in an ebony urn with ivory settings and polychrome angels of the nineteenth century). Regarding the nave, there are, under the blind arches, images of Saint Anthony of Padua and the Sacred Heart on the gospel wall and carvings of Saint Rita of Cascia and the Virgin of Carmen on the epistle wall, and a statue of Christ crucified at the entrance of the sanctuary.
(
visit link)