Store Cross of Caravaca Online

Many faithful who feel the attraction for the Cross of Caravaca and who become customers of our online store Cruzdecaravaca.com because they buy us one or several Crosses of Caravaca in our online store ask us for their meaning or for specific aspects of the attractive history always surrounding the Cruz de Caravaca. We are delighted to answer you, and for all those who want to know more quickly about everything that concerns the Cruz de Caravaca, we make a brief and complete summary below.

The Cruz de Caravaca is a double-arm cross recognized by the Catholic and Roman Church, which is worshiped and worshiped in its basilica that is inside the castle of Caravaca de la Cruz, the city to which they are reciprocally named, which is in the Region of Murcia, in the southeast of Spain. The Cross of Caravaca, has been granted the title of Santísima and Vera Cruz, in reference to the recognition of the true Cross of Christ conferred by the Catholic Church and therefore as a relic is endowed with a sense of exceptionality for having been in physical contact with the crucified body of Christ. Receive the Cult of Latry by official recognition of the Vatican since the eighteenth century.

The Cruz de Caravaca is endowed with a character of real universality motivated by a triple aspect. On the one hand in its historical aspect, its artistic aspect and finally and more importantly in its devotional or religious aspect, which after centuries of history culminated in the concession of Holy Years in perpetuity every seven years granted by St. John Paul II being Pope .

Due to its historical character, the Cruz de Caravaca is a cross of medieval Eastern and patriarchal origin. There we find the meaning of the double arm of the Caravaca Cross, as tradition places it as the pectoral cross of Patriarch Robert of Jerusalem, in the 13th century. From Jerusalem to Caravaca, we find the Caravaca Cross as a protective relic on land bordering with Muslims, in charge and guardian of the Templars, inhabitants of the fortress castle and who direct through their dance all the lands and people of the region of Caravaca, and from there starts a long history of almost eight centuries of miracles, events, worship, visits to Vera Cruz de Caravaca, the expansion of its cult in Europe and America by religious orders. Papal bulls and Jubilee Years around the Cross of Caravaca make up a succession of facts worthy of study.

Due to its artistic character, the Cruz de Caravaca, has been part of the local identity since its inception because of its representation in the shield of the city, in the rich liturgical silver trousseau of the Cruz de Caravaca that is still used or in the reproductions of the Silver Caravaca Cross that continues to melt until today, Gold Caravaca Crosses, or storm Caravaca Crosses. All these Caravaca Crosses end on the chest of believing people, blessing and protecting their homes and their lives.

The Cruz de Caravaca has always been the object of silversmiths, goldsmiths, cabinet makers and painters who have put the relic in ceramics, stone, jewelry, paintings. etc ... Writers, historians and theologians have reflected the different aspects of the relic in the books of the Cross of Caravaca of prayers or other kinds.

Because of its religious character, the Caravaca Cross is a Lignum Crucis and therefore a relic of the wood log where Jesus Christ died. The sacred wood is covered with a reliquary that is the exterior aspect that we see today. The Cruz de Caravaca was always guarded and kept inside the castle walls. There, in her chapel she is venerated and can be kissed when the priest gives her to worship. Twice a year, on the festivities of May, on the 5th and September the 14th blesses the population from the 4 cardinal points, as it does from the chapel of the conjunros every year, where nature is blessed.

The presence of the Cross of Caravaca for almost 8 centuries has originated up to eleven rites around the relic, which highlights the oldest, that of the blessing of the water by the Cross of Caravaca, which takes place every day May 3 by the afternoon, the day of the Invention of the Holy Cross, as a central act of the celebrations of the Cruz de Caravaca that are always held from May 1 to 5.

Special mention deserves the fact that numerous religious orders founded a house in the city of Caravaca de la Cruz: this was the case with Jeronimos, Claretians, Franciscans or Jesuits, and especially the direct foundations of the two Carmelitan branches, that of San Juan de la Cross for men who visited and lived in Caravaca on several occasions and that of Santa Teresa de Jesús for women, who founded a convent in the city and was linked to the Cruz de Caravaca, even on his deathbed, in his hands, He had a Caravaca Cross that is currently preserved in the Carmelite convent in Brussels.