The wound of the side: the Sacred Heart in the work of D. Felix Granda

The representation of the Sacred Heart in the work of Félix Granda, taken from the conference given by Emilia Gonzalez in the Monastery of Valdedios (Asturias).

A LOVER OF THE SACRED HEART

D. Felix Granda in front of one of his paintings representing the Sacred Heart of Jesus.

If we contemplate the work of D. Félix Granda as a whole, the presence of devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus is significant. Did he prefer this iconographic form over others to represent Christ?

While it is true that at the beginning of the 20th century there was a resurgence of devotion to the Heart of Jesus in Spain, which gave rise to many commissions that came to the workshop of Las Rosas, we also know that Don Felix, as a priest, had a special inclination for the heart of Jesus., which he considered to be the pure essence of Christianity, the manifestation of Christ's humanity that opens the door to all other devotions.

This is what he states in his writings when he says:

"The Stigma of the Side has always been the refuge and consolation of the Saints.because it brought them into contact with the Heart of Christ's flesh, organ and symbol of his sacrificed charity"Don Félix Granda, 1933.

"The pure souls (...) saw in the sobering words of St. John, the invitation to penetrate by the Side that opened the lance, the door through which to enter into the secrets of the Heart of Christ"Don Felix Granda, 1933

And so he emphasized by taking this quotation from the Lesson IV of the Office of the Sacred Heart:

"It was frequent among the Fathers, Doctors and Saints of the early times to celebrate the love of Our Redeemer and to call the wound in His side the arcane of all graces. In the Middle Ages, when a more tender devotion to the Most Holy Humanity of the Savior was enlivened among the faithful, contemplative souls were accustomed to enter through that wound into their own Heart, pierced for love of us.Since then, this contemplation has become so common among saints that there is no region or order where there are no illustrious testimonies of it".

Felix tries to go further in line with the Church, which seeks a deeper theological foundation. Devotion to the love of Christ has been present since the earliest times of Christianity and is the path by which the Saints naturally arrive and the love of Christ spreads, beyond the concrete devotions that may be given at a given historical moment.

THE SACRED HEART IN THE WORK OF D. FELIX GRANDA

In 1956 Pius XII published the Encyclic Haurietis AquasTheological foundation of devotion to the Sacred Heart. Don Felix continued to work on the artistic representation of the Sacred Heart of Jesus with the idea that the particular revelations would not overshadow the greatness of this devotion.The Pope's message, which Benedict XVI and Francis will also speak about, emphasizes the humanity of Jesus Christ.

Two carvings of the Sacred Heart stand out in Don Félix's work: the one in the Church of Havana, and the one of the Great Promise of Valladolid.

Don Félix with sculptor José Capuz and other artists, next to the sculpture of the Sacred Heart made for the Reina de la Habana Church (Cuba).

For the Sanctuary of the Great Promise, Don Félix converted an old altarpiece in a plastic explanation of the devotion to the Sacred Heart, which starts from the theological explanation of this devotion. Access here to a detailed explanation of the altarpiece

OTHER REPRESENTATIONS OF THE SACRED HEART

In addition to these, many more pieces representing the Sacred Heart, in different styles and materials, came out of the workshops for churches and chapels as well as for private devotion.