San Benito Abad Chapel

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Interior con retablo de la Capilla de San Benito Abad

This chapel is located in what is now a central street of our town, which was formerly known as Calle de San Benito.

The origins of this church date back to the times of the Christian reconquest. Thus, in 1258 H.M. Alfonso X el Sabio, after the reconquest of Gerena carried out by his predecessor and father Fernando III, donated some land to a community of Benedictine monks, possibly Cistercians, for their settlement and subsistence in the town. This community came accompanied by the Military Order of Alcantara, who were responsible for the recapitulation of Gerena.

This chapel was the church of the former Hospital of San Benito, which no longer exists, founded by the Benedictine community in the mid 16th century, which served as a resting place for pilgrims and travellers who passed through Gerena on their way to Santiago de Compostela, as mentioned in the historical records.

It occupies the former chapel of the Hospital de la Sangre. It is a single-nave building dating from the mid-18th century.

The Church of San Benito Abad, or Capilla de Abajo, as it is known by the residents of Gerena, has been the property and canonical seat of the Brotherhood since 1589 with the approval of Bernardo Rodriguez, the Vicar General of the Holy Church and Archbishopric of Seville, and his Excellency Rodrigo de Castro Presbítero, Cardinal of the Holy Church of Rome and Archbishop of the aforementioned Diocese, although the Brotherhoods of San Benito and the Santo Cristo de la Vera-Cruz had already been living together in this place since the mid-16th century.

At present it contains the reserve of the Holy Sacrament, granted by Cardinal José María Bueno Monreal in 1979, and it is a subsidiary church of the parish and the seat of the Hermandad de la Veracruz.

Labels

Chapel

Temple/church

Fernando III el Santo

Alfonso X The Wise

Hospital

Church