Life
Accompanied by the traditional prayer of the Holy Viacrucis, the faithful will carry on the venerated image of the Christ of the precious blood, a work originally from the 18th century that will travel the main streets of the historic center.
Christ of the precious blood. (Photo: Free Press: Erick Ávila)
Celebrating the fifth week of Lentthe Historic Temple of San Francisco will travel, as every year, the streets and avenues of the historic center with the image of the Christ of the precious blood, who shows the pain of his wounds caused by the flagellation he suffered at the hands of the soldiers. His path remembers the passion of Jesus Christ prior to his death.
As is tradition since 1955, the image leaves in procession every Friday of the fifth week of Lent, carried on the shoulders by the Association of Perpetual Viacrucis as devotion to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. The Association has integrated a new processional march to its tour, which is accompanied by the Virgin Dolorosa Franciscan.
Procession history
Since the beginning of the seventeenth century, the brotherhood of the Veracruz of the Temple of San Francisco, in the ancient city of Santiago de Guatemala, carried out a solemn procession during the night of Holy Thursday, which returned at dawn the next day.
This procession included the image of a crucified Christ, accompanied by the size of the Virgen de Dolores and, sometimes, by other sculptures. The Andas were loaded by priests and members of the elites of the city, according to the historian Mario Ubico in the book Popular tradition: Lent processions.
In its version, Ubico suggests that the cross that is carried in procession of the Christ of the precious blood carried the Lignum crucisa relic that, according to tradition, retains a fragment of the cross where Jesus died. This valuable relic increased the solemnity of the processional courtship.
Fifth Friday procession | April 4, 2025
Images: Christ of the precious blood and Virgin painful Franciscan
Place: San Francisco Historic Temple
Location: 6th. 13-01 Avenue, zone 1
Reference points:
- Departure: 18 hours.
- Central America Avenue and 14 Street: 7.30 pm.
- Sanctuary of Guadalupe: 20.50 hours.
- In parks: 21.35 hours.
- Santa Church Metropolitan Cathedral: 22 hours.
- Post arc: 23.40 hours.
- Admission: 00.30 hours.
Tours and schedules of the Christ of the precious blood for the fifth week of Lent 2025 (Photo: Courtesy Brotherhood of the Santa Vera Cruz Historical Temple of San Francisco)