The History of Christ

The origin of Christ carries many doubts and for a long lime it has been joined to facts which took place in Vigo in 1809, when the city was freed from Napoleonic invasions. However, a document from 1740 shows that by that time Christ already existed. It is Mr Ángel Ilarri Gimeno who found among the municipal records a letter from Mrs Bernarda Bello de los Rios requesting the town council permission to place a scaffold which had been withdrawn when the temple was tiled. That letter stated in one of its columns that the “Holy Christ of the good Victory” had been placed there.

It is precisely from this moment that the references to Christ happened. In some occasions as “Christ of the Good Victory”, in other occasions as “Christ of the Victory ” and in some other times as “Good Jesus of the Victory”.

Why the qualifying Victory? Originally, Christ meant dead but with the hope of resurrection, from there the meaning “Victory”, that is, the Victory over Death and the Sin. It is stated like this in the panels of the church which are a lesson on theology. However, some people date back its origin to the year 1809: When the French occupied the city and reconquered later by the troops and ordinary civilians of the zone – the people attributed the victory to its venerated Christ, a merit for which he was appointed patron of the city.

Another hypothesis is proposed by the chronicler Lalo Vázquez Gil who states the possibility that this qualifying derives from the bourbon triumphs during the Wars of Succession by Carlos II from the Spanish throne.

They are, just in case, hypotheses without any documentary prove.

Where is Christ image located?

Initially, it was placed in a small chapel at the right on the main entrance of La Colegiata Church. After the reconquest and agreeing with the increase of the devotees, the image was placed again taking advantage of the edification of a new parochial temple in a new altar placed at he head of the gospel aisle, the place occupied today the the Holy Family. With the passing of years, the number of devotees who entered the temple to implore their Christ protector increased forgetting in this way to pray the Blessed Sacrament in the High Altar. So, it was decided to it in this Barroque altar letting in backgropund the patron of the city, the Virgen of Asuncion.

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