San Sebastian Cathedral
 The main façade, an example of Neo-Genevan design | |
| Native name |
|
|---|---|
| Location | Culture District, Cárdenas, Nouvelle Alexandrie |
| Religious affiliation | Autocephalous Nazarene Church of Alexandria |
| Status | Active |
| Architecture type | Cathedral |
| Architecture style | Neo-Genevan |
| Groundbreaking | 1681 AN |
| Completed | 1685 AN |
San Sebastian Cathedral (Alexandrian: Cathédrale San-Sébastien; Martino: Catedral de San Sebastián) is a Nazarene cathedral in the Culture District of Cárdenas, the federal capital of Nouvelle Alexandrie. Rebuilt in its present form during the Cárdenas Plan and completed in 1685 AN, it is one of the principal churches of the capital and the seat of the suffragan bishop of Santander, who serves under the metropolitan archbishop at the Basilica of Saint Alexandra of Cárdenas. The cathedral is dedicated to Saint Sebastian, an early martyr of the Nazarene faith.
The church is known for its Neo-Genevan façade and painted interior, for its collection of relics of the early martyrs, and for the Oratory of Saint Natsanet, a surviving fragment of the older church that stood on the site under the Alexandrians. It fronts the Calle de las Mártires, the "street of the martyrs" that gives the surrounding parish its name, and remains a centre of devotion in the cultural quarter of the capital.
History
Origins
A church has stood on the site since the years of Alexandrian rule, when a small chapel served the quarter that would later become the Culture District. According to the tradition of the cathedral, the chapel was raised over the resting place of martyrs of the early faith, whose relics had been carried west as the Nazarene Church spread, and it drew pilgrims from across the district. The chapel outlasted the fall of the Empire of the Alexandrians in 1651 but fell into disrepair over the decades that followed, and by the time the capital was rebuilt only its eastern oratory still stood.
Reconstruction
The present cathedral was raised during the Cárdenas Plan, the reconstruction of the city as the federal capital. The work was directed by Bishop Tomás de Sella, the first suffragan of Santander to reside in the district, who preserved the surviving oratory within the new building and set the church on a far grander scale than the chapel it replaced. Ground was broken in 1681 AN and the cathedral was consecrated in 1685 AN. De Sella dedicated it to Saint Sebastian, whose relics had been kept in the old chapel, and the avenue laid before the main portal was named the Calle de las Mártires for the martyrs venerated within. A palace for the suffragan bishop was built beside the cathedral in the same year.
Later history
The cathedral escaped serious damage in the unrest of the following centuries and has been restored twice, most recently in the 1740s, when the dome was reinforced and much of the fresco work cleaned. Though it is not the metropolitan seat, which lies at the Basilica of Saint Alexandra of Cárdenas in the Government District, it has long been the principal Nazarene church of the Culture District and a station on the processions that cross the capital during the great feasts of the Church. Its nameday celebrations on 20 January draw crowds from across Cárdenas, and it is a regular venue for the concerts and choral festivals of the surrounding quarter.
Architecture
Exterior
The cathedral is built in the Neo-Genevan style, a revival of the medieval architecture of Geneva favoured for Nazarene churches during the Cárdenas Plan. The main façade is arranged in three triangular cusps rising over the three portals; the central cusp is flanked by twin bell towers and carries a statue of Christ the Saviour (Cristo Salvador). Each cusp is pierced by a rose window, and the front holds five further windows of two, three, and four lights. Over the central portal a carved tympanum shows the Virgin Miryam between Saint Natsanet and Saint Esdras, with Saint Sebastian at the side, and two marble lions guard the entrance. The side portals are kept closed except on major feasts, the right being opened each year on the nameday of Saint Sebastian, 20 January.
Interior
The cathedral is built on a cross plan, with a long central nave, two aisles, and a dome over the crossing. The nave is faced in polychrome marble and paved with the arms and tombstones of the church's benefactors; the largest, set before the baptismal font, belongs to the royal House of Inti-Carrillo, flanked by the emblems of the Order of Saint Natsanet and the Congregation of the Sacred Blood. The dome, rebuilt in reinforced concrete during the last restoration, is painted with scenes of Christ and his disciples and lit by a ring of small windows at its base.
The high altar stands in the apse beneath a marble statue of Saint Natsanet, the founder of the Nazarene faith, shown resting on a globe of lapis lazuli among a group of cherubs. She is flanked by statues of Saint Esdras and Saint Zacchaus, the Patriarchs of the West and the East, with reliefs of Saint Jacobus and Saint Thaddaeus above them. Behind the altar, two portals lead to the reliquary, where the relics of the church are kept.
Chapels
Ten chapels line the two aisles, dedicated to the saints of the Alexandrian Nazarene tradition and to the life of Christ:
- Chapel of the Martyrs
- Chapel of the Ascension
- Chapel of Saint Esdras
- Chapel of Saint Marius
- Chapel of the Crucifix
- Chapel of the Immaculate Conception
- Chapel of Saint Thaddaeus
- Chapel of Saint Zacchaus
- Chapel of Saint Jacobus
- Oratory of Saint Natsanet
The four chapels of the Patriarchs (Esdras, Jacobus, Thaddaeus, and Zacchaus) carry frescoes of their missions carrying the four scrolls out into the world, while the Chapel of Saint Marius honours the founder of the Congregation of the Sacred Blood. The easternmost chapel, the Oratory of Saint Natsanet, is raised over the site of the Alexandrian-era church and is the oldest surviving part of the building; it is the only part of the cathedral kept open for prayer through the night.
Decoration and relics
The interior is decorated throughout with frescoes, the best known being the Cleansing of the Temple above the main entrance, a portion of which was later reproduced in the metro station beneath the church. The frescoes of the apse trace the ministry of Christ and the Legend of Saint Natsanet, among them her finding of the four scrolls and the Baptism of the Four Hundred at the Markion River. Much of the ceiling work is attributed to the workshop of the Cárdenas painter Marcel Ordoño, who was active in the years after the church's completion, and whose Christ Walking on the Water fills the interior of the dome.
The cathedral is best known among the faithful for its relics of the early martyrs. Chief among them are the remains of Saint Sebastian, held beneath the altar of the Chapel of the Martyrs, and a thorn said to come from the Crown of Christ, shown at the Chapel of the Crucifix. Lesser relics of the Patriarchs and of Saint Marius are kept in the reliquary behind the high altar and brought out for veneration on their feast days.
Saint Sebastian
Saint Sebastian, to whom the cathedral is dedicated, is venerated as one of the early martyrs of the Nazarene faith. According to hagiographic tradition he was a soldier who came to the faith in the generations after the Four Patriarchs and refused to renounce it under the persecutions of the Machiavellians. The tradition holds that he was bound and shot with arrows but did not die, was nursed back to health by the faithful, and returned to profess the faith openly before he was at last put to death. He is remembered for the endurance of his suffering, and for that reason is invoked as a patron of athletes and of those who labour with the body; the Ciudad de los Deportes, some six kilometres to the south, keeps him as its patron. His feast falls on 20 January, when his relics are carried in procession from the Chapel of the Martyrs to the high altar.
Music and liturgy
The cathedral maintains a choir, the Schola of San Sebastián, which sings the sunrise service held on the Feast Day of Saint Natsanet after the custom of the Church, as well as the offices of the great feasts. Its organ, set above the western portal, dates from the last restoration and is among the larger instruments in the capital. The bells of the two towers are rung on feast days and to mark the processions of the Culture District, and are answered across the city by those of the Basilica of Saint Alexandra.
Bishop's Palace
The Bishop's Palace, built beside the cathedral in 1685 AN, is the residence of the suffragan bishop of Santander, who assists the metropolitan archbishop and has charge of the cathedral. A modest building behind and to the right of the church, it holds the bishop's living quarters and offices; its main door carries a bronze figure of Saint Esdras bearing the Keys.
Transport
The cathedral is served by the San Sebastian Metro and tram station, directly in front of the building. A fresco on the westbound platform reproduces part of the Cleansing of the Temple from the counter-façade of the church above.
