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Treasures of the Church-
Miraculous Images of Jesus |
The Holy Christ of
Limpias
Sanctuary of the Holy
Christ of Agony
Introduction
On the way to Lourdes from the Sanctuary of Our Lady of Covadonga in
Asturias, we pass by the province of Cantabria. Here close to the
road we find the Village of Limpias, famous for the Sanctuary of the
Holy Christ of Agony.
The name Limpias comes from the thermal waters known as the Waters
of Limpias. The village is small, about 1,200 residents, and it is
here where the Church of St. Peter was built.
In the main altar of the Church of St. Peter, apostle of Limpias, a
prodigious image of Christ in agony is venerated. The crucifix is a
meditation of the sufferings of Our Lord in the moments of His final
agony. The image of Christ is of natural size, measuring six feet
high placed on a cross of 2.30 meters high. The arms appear to be
soft and relaxed as of a man that stretched them without effort. His
index and angular fingers in both hands are extended as if giving
the final blessing . . . .
His face has an indescribable expression, a particular beauty: he is
looking towards heaven, and depending on where we look from, the
expression of Jesus is different, not only of pain, but also of
prayer and contemplation to the Father. On both sides of Christ,
stand two images: the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Sorrowful Mother and
Saint John the evangelist.
The origin of this beautiful image is not well known. It is believed
it was venerated in Cadiz, in the Franciscan Church, and after a
flood there it was taken to the oratory of Don Diego de la Piedra, a
knight and professor of the Order of St. James. Stories are told
that a tidal wave threatened the city of Cadiz, and the Christian
people took in procession the images most venerated of the city, the
waters were detained and turned back before the image of Christ of
Agony(Limpias). After this miracle, the people in thanksgiving to
the Lord, requested the image of the Holy Christ would be placed in
a special way for veneration in the Church of Cadiz.
Don Diego died in the year 1755, leaving several things in his will,
and not forgetting his birth town of Limpias:
“He requested the Church of St. Peter in Limpias be renovated,
building the main altar in gold, and placing the three images: Our
Lord agonizing on the Cross, his Blessed Mother and St. John the
evangelist.
That is why the Church was converted to the Sanctuary of the Holy
Christ of Agony.
Since March 30th, 1919 word spread that in Limpias extraordinary
events happen. It was said that the beautiful image of the Holy
Christ of Agony moves its eyes, giving the sensation that his body
is moving, that he would bleed and sweat. Limpias became famous and
many pilgrims came to visit from all over the world.
The first to see the miracle was Father Antonio Lopez, a professor
at the St. Vincent de Paul school located in the village:
“One day in the month of August 1914 I went to the Church with the
intention of installing an electrical light in the main altar. I was
alone in the Church on a ladder leaning on the back wall of the
image of Christ crucified. After two hours of work, I started to
clean the image so it would be seen better. My head was at the same
level as Christ’s. Less than two feet away through the window rays
of light were penetrating beautifully and completely illuminated the
altar.
"Noticing nothing abnormal and after a long time of work, I stared
at the eyes of the image and observed that his eyes were closed. For
several minutes I saw with clarity his eyes closed, even so that I
started to doubt if they were ever opened.
"I couldn’t believe what my eyes were contemplating. I started to
feel my strength diminishing and I lost my balance, I fell off the
ladder to the ground, suffering great pain. After recovering my
reason I was able to confirm from where I was that the eyes of Jesus
crucified still remained closed. I rapidly abandoned that Church,
and told my community what happened. Minutes later after leaving the
Church I met the sacristan who was about to ring the bells of the
Church for the Angelus. When he saw me so agitated, he asked me what
was wrong. I told him what happened, and he was not surprised
because he had heard before that the Holy Christ had closed his eyes
in more than one occasion.”
The priest professor thinking that the eye movement might have been
due to some type of mechanism, and giving much importance to his
vision, decided to carefully examine the image. He was able to
confirm that the image had no mechanism and his eyes are permanently
in place. Not even pressuring them hard did they move. He confirmed
this several times.
At the petition of his superiors, Father Antonio wrote all that
occurred to him, maintaining prudence by order of his spiritual
director. Not until March 16th, 1920, one year after the miraculous
incident of 1919, was this declared to the public.
At the beginning of the year 1919 the missions were taken place at
the Parish of Limpias. On the last day of the mission while the
priest celebrated Holy Mass, giving a homily based on the words of
Prov. 23:26, two other priests were in the confessionals. A girl of
12 years old entered the confessional and told the priest that the
image of Christ had his eyes closed. The priest, thinking that it
was the girls imagination, ignored it until other children
approached him with the same story. At the end of the homily, the
priest from the confessional went to tell the priest celebrant of
the Holy Mass what was happening. Both priests looked at the
crucifix without noticing anything unusual happening. All of a
sudden one of the faithful in the Church screamed: “ Look at the
crucifix.” In a few minutes the people confirmed with enthusiasm
what the children saw. People started to cry, others screamed,
saying they have seen a miracle and others fell on their knees
praying and imploring mercy from God.
To verify the phenomenon, after the church was empty the pastor went
up the ladder to the Holy image, touched the face of Jesus and his
neck with a handkerchief and was able to confirm that the image was
perspiring, confirming to those present his wet fingers.
The second manifestation occurred on April 13th, 1919 on Palm
Sunday, when the prominent men of Limpias came close to the altar
doubting and considering that what was happening was due to
collective hysteria and hallucination. As the men came closer to the
altar they were able to see the eyes and mouth of Christ move.
Suddenly they fell on their knees asking forgiveness and imploring
mercy from God.
The third manifestation took place on April 20th, 1919, on Easter
Sunday in the presence of a group of religious sisters of the Order
of the Daughters of the Cross. They saw the eyes and mouth of the
Holy Christ move while praying the Holy Rosary.
Since the 24th of April of that same year the manifestations
repeated almost daily, and, as expected, the Church was filled with
people who wanted to see the miracle.
The Rev.Barón Von Kleist, a priest from the village, said:
"Many people testified that Our Lord looked at them, to some in a
subtle way, to others with some sadness, and to some with a
penetrating and a sidelong glance. Many saw tears in His eyes,
others say to have seen drops of blood falling from His wounds
produced by the thorns of His crown. Many and various manifestations
were documented: seeing the image of Christ move His eyes from side
to side at the moment of the blessing and looking at the whole
Church in a captivating way, and also moving his head crowned with
thorns and sighing."
Pilgrimages and many testimonies
Pilgrimages from many places started to come to the village of
Limpias. Newspapers filled with articles relating the events in
Limpias were distributed all over Spain and abroad. Finally in 1921,
the number of pilgrims grew so much that the extension of traffic at
Limpias surpassed visitors to the Sanctuary of Lourdes.
Principality, as well as dignitaries from the Church of Spain,
including bishops and cardinals visited the Sanctuary of Limpias-Christ
of Agony. Archbishops also came from Mexico, Peru, Manila, Cuba and
other nations. Many albums are in the sacristy of the Church of
Limpias with over 8,000testimonies from people that confirm the
manifestations. 2,500 of those testimonies were given “under oath”.
Among the witnesses are members of religious orders, priests,
doctors, lawyers, professors, officers, merchants, ranchers,
believers and non-believers.
The first bishop to be granted the favor to experiment the
manifestations was Don Manuel Ruiz y Rodriguez, bishop of Cuba, who
went to Limpias after his visit to Rome. After returning to his
country Cuba, he wrote a pastoral letter to the members of his
dioceses exposing without reservations everything concerning the
miraculous crucifix. He wrote about how the eyes of Jesus moved from
side to side and how His face, at one point was expressively
agonizing. Since this moment devotion spread through out Cuba to the
agonizing Christ of Limpias.
In July 29th, 1919, Father Celestino Maria de Pozuelo, a Capuchin
who visited the Parish of Limpias wrote about his experience: “The
face presented a vivid expression of pain, the body discolored as if
it had just received cruel lashes and it was totally bathed in
sweat.”
Rev. Valentin Incio, from Gijon, related that he visited Limpias on
August 4th, 1919. At his arrival he united to a group of pilgrims
who were witnessing the miracle at that moment. About 30-40 people
were present, two priests, 10 sailors and a woman who didn’t stop
crying. Father Incio wrote:
“Upon arrival I contemplated Our Lord has if he was alive; His head
maintained the accustomed position and His outline had a natural
expression, but His eyes were full of life looking in different
directions . . . at one point, He stared at the sailors,
contemplating them for a long time, later He looked listless towards
the sacristy also for a long time. At this moment a touching
experience happened to all of us: Jesus looked straight at all of
us, but in such a sweet, soft, expressive, loving and divine way,
that all of us present fell on our knees, crying and adoring Christ.
"Our Lord continued to move His eyes and eyelids that glared as if
they were full of tears. He moved His lips softly as if wanting to
say something or praying. At the same time the women I had mentioned
before was next to me and saw the Lord trying to move His arms,
struggling to loosen them from the Cross.”
Three priests, 10 sailors and one woman gave this testimony.
On September 15th, 1919, two bishops in company of 18 priests,
related their story when prostrated before the crucifix:
“We all saw the sadness worsen on the Face of the Holy Christ. His
mouth was also open, more than usual. His eyes were staring directly
at the bishops and later in the direction towards the sacristy. His
gestures simultaneously took on an expression as of a man that was
fighting to survive.”
On December 24th, 1919, in company of a group of people, the Priest
confessor of the Church of Our Lady of Pilar in Zaragosa, Don Manuel
Cubi, saw the Holy Christ in agony of death. “Our Lord tried to come
down the Cross with severe and convulsive movements. Later He raised
His head, moved His eyes and closed His mouth. On some occasions I
was able to see His tongue and teeth. For approximately half an hour
He manifested to us how costly it was for Him our salvation and how
much he suffered for us in the moment of His abandonment on the
Cross.”
Miracles of healing and official Church recognition
Several medical reports were submitted . . .
The miraculous manifestations of the Holy Christ were not only the
ones reported, many healings were also reported. By July 1920, there
were over 1,000 healings certified by doctors. Few of these healings
took place in Limpias, but rather when the pilgrims returned home
and were in contact with religious objects that touched the
crucifix.
The bishop of Santander, diocese of which Limpias was a part,
introduced the canonical process on July 20th, 1920. One year and
one day later, plenary indulgences were granted for a period of 7
days for all those who visited the Holy Crucifix.
The Papal Nuncio visited Limpias on September 1921. He prayed in
front of the crucifix and examined it from all angles. The nuncio
manifested to the cleric and the locals that the image caused a very
profound impression in him and honored them for being chosen to
embrace the manifestation of Our Lord through this image in the
church.
The public phenomenon ceased completely several years later. A
national war seemed to have left behind and forget the Holy Christ
of Limpias, but the devotion born from the warmness of so many
manifestations continued. It is surprising to note the existence of
tourists and pilgrims at different times in history. Tourists and
pilgrims are attracted by the fame, prodigies, and the beauty of the
Holy image.
Today the Paul Priests are in charge of the Parish/Sanctuary trying
to continue the same pastoral work as their predecessors and the
cleric from past years. Among the normal parish life the veneration
of the Holy Christ is always promoted.
All of these accounts can be concluded with a brief report written
by a journalist about what occurred in his presence: “I was able to
perceive movement from his jaw, as if He was pronouncing syllables
with His lips. I closed my eyes firmly and asked myself: What did He
say ? The response was not delayed. From the depths of my heart I
was able to hear clearly this word so anointed and significant:
“LOVE ME.”
For this reason Our Lord manifested so many miracles before the eyes
of believers and non-believers. In Limpias He demonstrated the agony
of His death and the magnitude of His love for us, not only to evoke
sentiments of compassion and repentance, but also to ask and
supplicate that WE LOVE HIM IN RETURN.
This page is the work of the Servants of the Pierced Hearts of Jesus and
Mary
