![]() ![]() Believers had to be satisfied with being able to be in close proximity to the crucifix only. ![]() The bishop, the statue’s 11 chosen attendants and everyone else in attendance wore masks and tried – albeit unsuccessfully – to adhere to social distancing protocols. Ushers in surgical masks shepherded pilgrims and the curious through a sanitization tent outside where people were asked to wash and disinfect their hands. The life-size black Christ was put in an enclosure, and for the first time in its history the faithful were not allowed to touch it or kiss it, as in other years. ![]() The solemn ceremony in the Campeche church taking place in the year 2020 was unlike any other in the previous 454 years. This was done to commemorate the martyrdom of the statue’s patron, Saint Romanus, a Roman soldier in the legion of Emperor Valerian who converted to Christianity and was beheaded on August 9th in the year 258. Every year at noon on August 9 th for the past 455 years, 11 faithful people would take down the black statue of Christ from its place above the altar and move it to the center of the church for public veneration. The Bishop of Campeche, José Francisco González González presided over the annual taking down or descent of one of the region’s most venerated religious objects, the Cristo Negro de San Román. ![]()
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