The Ermita de San Roque in Totana

A small church in the north of Totana which dates from the 18^th century

The Ermita de San Roque is a modest, unpretentious church located on a small hill called “El Cabecico”  in the northern part of Totana. Dedication to the saint was moved to this location in the 18^th century from a previous church at the entrance to the town which had stood since the the mid-16^th century. This dedication was a popular one, as Roque was believed to be a saint who protected against the kind of epidemics and plagues which frequently affected, and other areas of the region, Totana throughout the Middle Ages.

The date of completion of the current church (1761) is featured in a stone plaque on the main façade. On its southern and western sides the church is protected by a stone wall, while on the other sides is a large square, as is the case with the Ermita de San José, also in Totana. Access to San Roque is via long flights of steps from Calle de San Roque, Avenida de Santa Eulalia and Calle de la Monja.

Architecturally, this church is built in the Tuscan style, and the semi-circular ceiling is perhaps its most eye-catching feature. The four arches which support this ceiling are trimmed with imitation marble, and contain insets depicting San Andrés, San Bartolomé, San Francisco de Asís and Santa Catalina painted by Silvestre Martínez Teruel in the 18^th century. The colourful interior is added to by the walls being decorated with floral motifs in blue and red, and there are five side chapels as well as the main nave, which culminates in the altar screen: it is here that the 19^th century wooden sculpture of San Roque is housed.

Every 8th December, this figure is joined by the processional image of Santa Eulalia, who leaves the next day to complete her journey from her sanctuary in the mountains outside Totana to the parish church of Santiago. This annual “romería” is commemorated outside the church by a sculpture created in 2004 by Anastasio Martínez Valcárcel, a work of art commissioned to coincide with the 1700^th anniversary of the death of Santa Eulalia (a martyr from Barcelona who was tortured and crucified by the Romans).

It's a major occasion within the town, thousands of people accompanying the figure of Santa Eulalia on her 7km journey between her sanctuary and the town below. When the romería stops and she is carried into the church she is greeted by local dignitaries and a huge crowd, the public filing in to pay their respects, with the  square alongside the church crammed to the brink with those who have completed the walk down from the sanctuary.

The church is also at the centre of the annual fiestas of the district of San Roque, which take place on and around the Saint’s feast day (16^th August).

The Ermita de San Roque stands on the Avendia de Santa Eulalia, which leads out of Totana to the north in the direction of the sanctuary and the mountains of Sierra Espuña:

Click here for more information about the Totana municipality

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