Portal de Lorca
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It is an extraordinary meeting that highlights the great contribution of this congregation to the history of the city, where they have been present uninterrupted throughout the last 5 and a half centuries.
A manifesto has been signed that will be transferred to the Order, in which its spiritual and cultural service is underlined.
The Councilor for Citizen Participation in the City of Lorca, Francisco Javier Pelegrin, has reported that the Mayor has convened the Standing Committee of the City's Social Council in order to address the consequences of the announced departure of members of the Franciscan congregation resident in the patron convent of La Virgen de las Huertas, while offering a statement on the matter.
The Mayor has stated that the Franciscan community is part of Lorca;
we could not understand the last 5 and a half centuries of this municipality without the presence of the order that has provided a spiritual and cultural service of incalculable value to generations and generations of Lorca.
The presence of the Franciscans in the City of the Sun has been documented since the mid-fifteenth century, having its acme in the Convent of the Virgen de las Huertas that has its foundations in the deepest history of Lorca and in the legends that have forged the identity of this municipality.
The Franciscans have been the best guardians of the temple's brilliant cultural heritage, elements and spaces as valuable as the Caliphate palace, the Tota Pulchra, the chapel of the Counts of San Julián sculpted by Mariano Benlliure or the pictorial cycle of the church and its rooms .
But they have also guarded the patron saint of Lorca, the Virgen de las Huertas, who for centuries has heard the prayers and prayers of Lorca and Lorca being protected and sheltered by their Franciscans.
The Orchard of Lorca has grown around the temple, which has become the place of worship and devotion of the rural population, acting as the nucleus of spatial and temporal cohesion.
Hence, the Franciscan community developed an important educational work, complementary to the spiritual, which allowed to form in basic precepts such as writing and reading to thousands of children from the most humble layers of society.
Not to mention the social work of the friars who always looked for their parishioners, especially in times of shortages and hardships, providing an invaluable aid for the families of Lorca.
The affection that we Lorca professes for the Franciscan community is absolute;
Throughout the centuries the friars have been spiritual guides, but also parents, teachers, counselors, doctors, ... They have made the best days of thousands of neighbors in baptisms, communions or weddings, but they have also helped others to say goodbye of this life with consolation, company and faith.
And even one of the first scholars who studied the history of Lorca and painted it black on white in Blazons and antiquities of the city of Lorca was a Franciscan: Father Morote.
Each September Lorca commemorates the celebration of its patron with the Chica Fair, which is a collective tribute to the faith by this deity, but also by its Convent and by the Franciscan community.
A whole district of Lorca emerged under the protection of the Convent and its community, and the most populated garden districts have them as custodians of their faith, culture and traditions.
Of the three Franciscan convents that the municipality had, the presence of the friars in the Virgen de las Huertas is the last testimony that remains of this very extensive and prosperous neighborly relationship that we can not afford to lose.
After five and a half centuries of invaluable presence in Lorca, we believe that the Franciscan community still has a great future in this municipality.
The works to recover the Convent of the Virgen de las Huertas after the damages caused by the tragic earthquakes of 2011 face its final stretch.
The restoration of the temple will mark a milestone in that this key heritage space of the Region of Murcia will look as good as possible, also having new tourist and cultural incentives such as the Caliphal palace discovered in its subsoil.
There is no one better than the Franciscans to guard, manage and show this cultural richness, because it is they who have made it possible for such a rich heritage to reach the 21st century, they are its legates and those who have to continue to protect it for generations to come.
The exit of the Franciscan community supposes to erase a basic chapter of the history of Lorca and to eliminate the firmest guarantee of the future survival of an essential part of our cultural legacy and of our identity, running the risk of dropping fundamental episodes into oblivion of our memory if the friars are not there to guard and guarantee them.
With the hypothetical departure of the Franciscans a part of Lorca withers.
With the departure of the Franciscan community, we lose an essential part of the idiosyncrasy of our people.
Source: Ayuntamiento de Lorca
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