HISTORY

DEVOTION
Portrait of Mountaineers
made by Velázquez
(1637)
 THE LORD OF THE SEA
Image of Devotion and Admiration
Leaving aside the historical part, which gives rise to devotion from what
happened, I will say that the Christ that we see seated is not only that, devotion, but
a work of art, worthy of great admiration. I will try to be as concise as possible.

There is no written document indicating the authorship of the sculpture. The

port's archives disappeared, along with the houses, and almost all of the neighbors
due to the earthquake and tsunami disaster. What we know through the chroniclers
is very vague, it is only limited to indicating the number of communities that existed
in the Port in the 17th century. But yes, after a restoration that was carried out and
studies both in Lima and in Spain, it shed light on the artistic information, on the
immense value of the sculpture: it is a statue from the Sevillian workshop of the
famous Montañes (Alcalá la Real, Spain 1568-Seville, 1649).

Juan Martínez Gonzáles, better known as Juan Martínez Montañes, was a

Spanish sculptor of the Baroque period. He gives the sculpture a more dramatic
naturalism, where the “pathos” or feeling dominates, sometimes overflowing in
mysticistic deliquies or in a disordered movement. and unpredictable, a common
characteristic of the sculpture of this period, in which foreshortening, slanted and
violent lines abound. And it is Spain, the country in Europe with the most personal
plastic flowering. Baroque sculpture turns out to be, above all, realistic,
expressionist, and dramatic; as well as asceticism and mysticism.
It is very close to the Catholic sentiment of the people
Spanish, which implies the strongest and starkest naturalism. So much so that
Spanish imagery often requires not only polychrome but even glass eyes and tears,
natural hair and cloth clothing to give a greater sense of reality. Valladolid and
Seville will be the main focuses of development of this
sculptural quality and characteristic. In Valladolid, its
highest representative was Gregorio Fernández; in
Seville, JUAN MARTINEZ MONTAÑES , more classic
(it retains Renaissance characteristics), more serene,
with more accentuated balance than the representative
from Valladolid. Its figures, free of pathos, have a placid
and correct beauty, with children and representations of
the “Immaculata” being the most frequent, apart from
numerous altarpieces (“San Isidoro del Campo” from Santiponce, “Santa Clara”
from Seville; “ San Miguel” of Jerez, etc.). His masterpiece is considered to be the
“Christ of Clemency” by Archdeacon Vázquez de Leca, the one with the deepest
drama among all his works. In addition to knowing that his art was captured not in
stone but in polychrome wood .
The artist of imagery in the 18th century, exactly in the middle, limited
himself to the mannequin doll, in which only the hands and sometimes feet received
the best aesthetic treatment, since like the rest of the image it was dressed in
clothes and ornaments. typical of the figure it represented, it was only a strut
skeleton and braces that replaced the body. That is why
the fact that the image of the Lord of the Sea is full-
length leads us justifiably to the conclusion that it is from
the 17th century. And it will give us an image of a
candlestick and another dedication that is the current
one.
One is more inclined to think of a Lord of the Cane or
Just Judge, or a figure for one of the steps of the Holy
Week procession as is customary in Seville. Although
seeing it one is inclined to think that it is a Christ awaiting
the crucifixion, sitting as he is on the rock. Naked the
figure is contemplated with admiration. The determining
characteristics of the mountain work are several. From
the arrangement of the waves of the hair and beard so
characteristic of the Master's sculptures, the vigorous yet morbid and flexible
workmanship of the feet and hands that are softly articulated, allow the comparison
of these parts. of the body of our image with those that are authentically from the
alkaline master. Even in the thoroughness of the examination of the structure itself,
the similarities of its composition with those of San Jerónimo, of the monastery of
Santa Clara de Llerena or Santo Domingo de Guzmán of the Seville museum are
revealed to us.
The structure is very simple, elementary, due to the few pieces to assemble
it. From the base to the head (originally all in one piece), the box is made up of
three thick pieces: the chest and trunk of the body with the stumps of the arms are
sculpted; the mid-thighs and hips. Another thinner piece makes the backrest, closes
the gap in the box and serves as a lid. One of the arms is in one piece, without
joints or ligatures, under the filling. Another, the left two-piece.
The image suffered alterations; later touch-ups and fillings, so that when
dressed, it would be the object of a particular devotion: that of the Lord of the Sea,
in memory of his salvation from the waves, par excellence for protection from future
disasters. But thanks to the restoration work, it was possible to remove layers of
paint that today allow us to appreciate and admire the sculpture in its real
dimension. Even more so with the shine of the glass in his eyes, looking at any
person who was praying at his foot and as if Christ himself was speaking to him and
as if complaining that what he is suffering is the one he is praying for.
HISTORY OF THE LORD OF THE SEA
The image of the “Lord of the Sea” was saved from the tremendous
catastrophe caused by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami that hit Lima and
Callao on October 28, 1746.
During the first half of the 18th century, Callao did not have many buildings.
FROM RUIN TO FINDING
Before the disaster of October 1746, Callao was
not very well founded. Known as
Presidio, included the wall built during 1624 by
the Marquis of Guadalcázar and the citadel built
in 1640-1647, managed by the Marquis of
Mancera. The Real Felipe fortress did not exist
either.
Callao, located in the western central
coastal region, receives the effects directly of the so-called circum-Pacific ring of
fire, that is, it is within an area of high seismicity. Thus, from 1586 to 1974, six
earthquakes have destroyed it, the least magnitude being that of 1966 (7.0 degrees
on the Modified Mercalli scale), however it startled it. Now, of the 16 tsunamis, 50%
were blown to pieces. The following should be noted: from the colony until 1746,
Callao - we indicated it above - was known by the name of Presidio, which does not
mean prison but a walled town, ready to defend itself from outside attacks, mainly
from filibusters. However, the strong ones
Spain designated it using the word Callao. This is confirmed by the instructions of
Pedro de la Gasca, issued in the year 1547.
Another thing, the old Presidio housed plazas, notable sites and churches.
We mention, apart from the temples, the parish house and the Puerta de la Mar
(here was the gap that opened the body of water), the Government House, the road
to Lima, the place where the water was made, the Plaza de Armas, the Royal Pier,
the Ramada, the old Pitipiti (outside the walls, in the center left, looking towards La
Punta), etc. The bastions were the following: San Miguel, San Ignacio, Santa Cruz,
Santa Catalina, Santiago, San Juan Bautista, Santo Domingo, San Felipe, San
Luis, San Lorenzo, San Francisco (near Pitipiti), San Pedro, San Antonio, which
surrounded, like the souls of saints, Callao, that Prison that did not respect the fury
of October 1746, leaving only a few pieces of the wall, two large doors as sad
memories.
That October 28, 1746, the bell tower of the Matriz parish announced ten
o'clock at night. The date celebrated the festival of San Simón and San Judas
Tadeo, patron saints of Callao. After a while tragedy struck.
What happened that day (10:30pm) marks a moment of horror in the history
of a town. An 8.9 magnitude earthquake. It was as if a beast had escaped and
turned everything it stepped on into dust. None of the mortals of those times thought
that such a phenomenon would really occur. It was a kind of apocalypse in a certain
space.
That time the sea flooded more than a quarter of a league, says José
Eusebio Llano y Zapata. It swallowed up the four main walls, even the one made of
stone. The bastions were destroyed, especially the nine that faced the land. Those
in the know maintain that the waters came from the north and northwest, when they
collided with the head of San Lorenzo they did not continue towards the south, the
liquid mass was divided, part of it reaching the center of Callao. The natural disaster
occurred at 10:30 p.m. In Lima the earthquake had a very strong intensity, 25 of the
three thousand houses fell down, killing from one thousand to five thousand of
60,000 residents. The waves reached twenty meters high, causing the total
destruction of Callao, killing 4,800 people, barely saving 200, the sailors and
fishermen, the latter residing outside the wall; the prisoners of the island of San
Lorenzo, "condemned to forced labor." Also 22 escaped death by being in the Santa
Cruz bastion, the rest were thrown more than two
leagues from the ruined Presidio. The wave seemed
like a trumpet against that very old fort without
damming, which is why the gunpowder stored without
moisture could be removed from its chambers.
The waves, according to a certain surviving
sailor from the frigate "San Fermín", were higher than
the island of San Lorenzo itself, formed two miles
away. The tsunami began, as we said, when the
aforementioned crashed into the island, dividing in two
to devastate Callao from north to south, crossing the
peninsula. It overflowed through Chorrillos. The
waters reached a farm located between the
Callao and Lima: the Aguilar hacienda, later chosen to
found the town of Bellavista around 1747 under the
patronage of San Simón and San Judas Tadeo. The Marquis of Obando, head of
the Squadron and General of the Sea, said that the waves dragged the "San
Fermín" with its thirty cannons to the Chacra Alta hacienda. And where the San
Juan de Dios Hospital was, the "San Antonio", by Tomás Costa, built in Guayaquil,
beached. Adrián Corzi's "Michelet" was also anchored here; while the "Socorro" of
Juan Bautista Baquíjano, who had arrived from Chile that fateful day, ended up in
the willows of old Pitipiti (today Chucuito). Of course, the fort's artillery was buried.
Twenty-three ships that were anchored in the port in chains were launched to the
old market located almost on the borders of Callao and Bellavista. After the
tsunami, Manso de Velasco ordered the construction of the interim chapel in
Bellavista.
l
THE SEISMIC Eocomme
MOVEMENT THIS MORNINGIMA,
The Sacred Finding CALLAO AND BALNEARIOS APPEARS THAT THE MOST
SERIOUSLY AFFECTED AREA HAS BEEN PARTLY DESTROYED
.
When years later it was rebuilt on the old site of the port, in the shadow of
The news from the provinces is until now quite
reassuring
the Real Felipe fortress, some buried objects fromdead andthese shipping injured remains were
In Callao there are more than a hundred
more than a thousand
I
discovered. A figurehead served as a corner decoration for a house that was built in
the place where it was found during the excavations of its foundations; and in
another place the discovery of a good fragment of a mast was used to erect a cross;
and thus the image of the
 Christ, and with great veneration, taken to the Chapel of the town of
Bellavista.
Well, the image of the Lord of the Sea was discovered when the provisional
chapel of Bellavista existed, dedicated to San Simón and San Judas. The Casavilca
spouses, he: Don Antonio, a fisherman, were the ones who found, after ten years of
the tragedy of Callao, and in San Diego, the former Aguilar farm, now Bellavista, the
considered Patron of the Constitutional Province. It was inside a wooden box. The
discovery had surprising edges. Great news. It was a carving of fine wood, due to
its position it represented Christ. He was first called Lord of the Reed, Lord Just
Judge, then they baptized him Lord of the Sea, thus awakening a deep religious
feeling. The faithful built a grotto, later converted into the Bellavista chapel, where
he was taken. .
The Lord of the Sea, whose symbolic existence knew from the first stone
intended to build the fortress of Real Felipe (August 1, 1747), completed in 1774, a
pentagon less extensive than the old Presidio where no establishment was allowed
within its limits. religious or private barracks, constitutes a work of carats, its
authorship attributed to the Sevillian Juan Martinez Montañes, whose style existed
during the first half of the 17th century. It is an image that is presented with clasped
hands, hair like a wig, legs somewhat loose. He gives the impression of being a
character enlisted to represent a drama of passion. His look is hurt, at the same
time firm. He is sitting on a rock.
To commemorate the earthquake of May 24, 1940, the Lord of the Sea is
worshiped by taking him out in a procession.
That disaster also had dire consequences,
still valid today. It started at 11:35 am It
lasted one minute and 32 seconds. His
shaking was an eternity. The ground
cracked. Faced with such an eventuality, the
brothers took the Lord of the Sea to the
seashore in the southern area of Callao. It
was 3:00 in the afternoon; Surprised, they
watched as the waters of the sea calmed
down. In May, then, and only on that day, it is taken out in a procession.
The White Cross (still existing) is one of the three crosses that Callao had
on its roads. Legend, myth or whatever, these crosses were witnesses of an ancient
history. The first, we located between Colón and Salom, next to the Central Market;
the other can be seen in La Legua, the third is in La Punta. Simple lumber; but of
deep significance.
As already mentioned, the “San Fermín” was left on what is today the
corner of Saloom and Colón, one of its masts precisely served to make the well-
known White Cross. There the Franciscans offered sermons during the festival of
the Lord of the Sea, that was many years ago; In addition, the women of the Food
Market took care of the hermitage whose interior exhibited religious paintings, now
missing. The White Cross shows the face of the suffering Christ. Until 1865
was carried out procession from Bellavista to Cruz Blanca a
day only (28 October), evoking the fateful earthquake of the 18th century. This
year, of
Bellavista your abode since the fateful event happens to the then Rosa
church of
Santa Maria (today parish Santa Rosa, where it remains to be visited
by the devotees.
The second cross, on a simple base, almost planted on the ground, was
erected by believers next to the former Factory of the National Tram Company, near
the Sanctuary that houses the Virgin of Carmen. It is asserted that the sea
advanced up to there, "to that silent place." Because the terrain was high, Lima
could have been saved, otherwise the story would have been different, even the
prophecy of Santa Rosa would have been fulfilled.
There is no further information about Puntaña. In this place that was a
fishing neighborhood, before becoming a spa, it was next to the remembered
Miramar casino, now it rests on one side of the beach close to the seafood
restaurants, the boardwalk, almost facing the Lions Club. Until 1915, solemnities
were organized on the first Sunday in May; on the eve they used to take it in a
procession to the Mother Church, with a mass celebrated, then at 10 a.m. He
returned to La Punta, after another liturgy in the district chapel, when it was not yet
a parish.
DEVOTION TO THE “LORD OF THE SEA”
The venerated image of Our Lord, dedicated to the Lord of the Sea, found
then 10 years after the total ruin of the Port provoked such a great religious feeling
that in the year 1875 the Company or Guild of Beach Players supported and
sponsored the cult of the Sacred Image.
The Beach Players Company was dissolved by Supreme Decree of March
31 of the same year. Messrs. Manuel Santálice, José María Larrahón and Mariano
C. Seville and countless devotees founded “The Society of the Sea, of worship and
charity” on November 21, 1875.
Finally, on October 21, 1931, the “Brotherhood of Chargers and
Sahumadoras del Señor del Mar” was founded with the main objective of
solemnizing the cult of the Divine Patron of Callao. Brotherhood that was formed
with four crews to carry it. The Lord of the Sea's walk weighs almost three tons and
is carried by 32 brother carriers. To commemorate the earthquake of May 24, 1940,
the Lord of the Sea is worshiped by taking him out in a procession. That disaster
also had dire consequences. Only that day, he is taken out in procession to the
southern part of Callao and with white clothes as a sign
 mourning. In 1956, the brotherhood obtained permission from the mystical. The look, above all, reaches the admirable. And wide open eyes convey
Archbishop of Lima for the Lord to also come out on October 29. Permission that anguish. The mouth is in pain. He also holds the reed as if he had finished a music
was given for one year. But before the end of the year, the archbishop announced of ordeal.
that the departures of May 24, October 28 and 29 were established forever.
Image of devotion, sculpture of admiration, the Patron of Callao resides at
The solemn novena of the festival of the Lord of October begins the second Marco Polo 248. There he advises his faithful: "If someone loves me, keep my
half of the tenth month of the year. The image is transferred from its altar to its silver Commandments." It is not in vain that "the Old Man" is "Jesus the Savior, who
litter ( enthronement). The entire governing body and members of the Brotherhood calms the storms."
attend, venerating in this way the Protector of Callao and since January 2016,
Cultural Heritage of the Nation. Then the groups and incense burners offer masses
from that day from 7 pm until the date of their solemn procession. On the 28th, at 7
in the morning, a mass celebrated in his honor by the Bishop of Callao will begin the
commemoration of the discovery of the sacred image, leaving in a devout
procession until late at night, returning to its sanctuary on the 29th (and on the
30th). ) October.
When Callao is ruined, the Lord of the Sea appears, as if to remind his human children that: "He is the Savior who calms the storms." That is why the people of Callao,
in each of the tours of their patron saint, take to the streets to thank him from the bottom of their hearts for all the blessings that he obtains for his people through his
outstretched hands.
Today the Brotherhood of Cult, Chargers and Sahumadoras of the Lord of Prayer to the "LORD OF THE SEA"
the Sea has 1,200 brothers distributed in eighteen gangs and four groups of
sahumadoras. In addition, the Brotherhood carries out social aid work and Christian
initiation catechism.
OH my Lord! Here you have me prostrate before you, asking for
The Lord of the Sea is like that of the mercy. You know, Oh! loving father, better than me, what I need, I humbly
Miracles of Lima, that of the Tremors in beg you to remedy it.
Cusco or that of Luren in Ica. It only You who shed your blood to free the world from sin.
differs from the others because it looks You who calmed the storms of the raging sea to save your people. I ask you
like a human being carried on shoulders. to save our souls; If I lack faith, trust and perseverance, You make up for
It does not constitute easel painting nor them. Because You are the infinite truth, the goodness and the supreme
is it a lump of plaster. Identical to the strength of our souls. Amen.
origin of Callao, it does not present a
birth certificate. It's okay as such.
Furthermore, it appeared suddenly.
From documents it is not exactly known
who authored the image.
There is talk of Martínez Montañés. The documentation disappeared when the ruin
occurred. It seems that he was going to other geographical destinations. The truth
is that it was made to stay in Callao.
The work expresses many concerns, we consider it wonderful. That unique finish gives you solemnity, a great character of intense
dramatics. The provision of the waves of the hair and beard are
amazing, the feet and hands themselves give proportion to the character's continent
 DIVINE KING, THE CHALACOS,
HYMN TO THE LORD OF THE
SEA WE COME TO IMPLORE YOU
BECAUSE YOU ARE THE PATRON OF
THIS PORT "LORD OF THE SEA".

PROSTRATE BEFORE THE THRONE

OF YOUR IMMENSE MAJESTY
WE ADORE YOUR GREATNESS
AND WE IMPLORE YOUR GREAT KINDNESS.

IF THE WAVES RURLED

OBEY YOUR LAW
OF THE FURY OF THE SEAS
PROTECT US YOUR GREAT POWER.

AND IN THE STRUGGLES OF LIFE

FOR GOOD AND AGAINST EVIL,
MAY YOUR PROTECTION PROTECT US
AGAINST ALL ADVERSITY.

AUTHOR:
MONSIGNOR ARBULÚ PINEDA BISHOP OF PIURA
(WITH ECCLESIASTICAL LICENSE)

Edited by the Brotherhood of Cult, Chargers and Sahumadoras of the Lord of the
Sea

Brotherhood of Cult, Chargers and Sahumadoras

of the Lord of the Sea