THE SACRISTY

After countless alterations to the original chapel, built as early as 1517, the Sanctuary’s orientation was changed in 1664. The first temple had an east-west orientation, and the present one is south-north. For this reason, in 1672 the sacristy, where the liturgical vestments were kept, was enlarged and rebuilt, and has been preserved to the present day. As a witness to the old chapel and its former orientation, the stone arch remains, where the Virgen de las Nieves used to be worshipped. Under this arch there are two very important works such as the canvas of the Holy Family, the work of the Palmero artist Bernardo Manuel de Silva in 1697, commissioned by the couple formed by Don Diego de Guisla y Castilla and Doña María Pinto de Guisla, founders of the Esclavitud de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves (Slavery of Our Lady).
Beneath this pictorial work is one of the best pieces of Sacristy furniture preserved in the Canary Islands, a chest of drawers made of vinatigo wood, carved with the heads of masks and flowered vases, which was used to store liturgical vestments. It was donated by the Archdeacon Pedro de Escobar Pereira of Canary Island Cathedral in 1658. Dated to this date, it could be the work of the master Antonio de Orbarán.
Other works of interest are the ‘Reliquary of all the Saints’, with fragments of saints’ bones, the Lignum Crucis, relics of the Virgin’s mantle and headdress, Saint Joseph’s tunic, the column of the Flagellation, the Manger and the scale of the Praetorium, authentic possession issued in Rome in 1847 by Pope Pius IX; the white damask chasuble with scapular embroidered in silk and gold thread, made between 1757 and 1768 for the Virgin’s feast day; the pluvial cloak and dalmatics of the ‘Terno bueno’ for the day of the Virgin and octave, embroidered on white satin with various gold and fine silver fabrics, made in La Laguna by Antonia Gutiérrez y González, under the supervision of the presbyter José Rodríguez Moure, at the end of the 19th century.
Other paintings of interest kept in the Sacristy are the canvases of the Canarian painter Juan de Miranda of ‘La Inmaculada’, ‘San José’ and ‘San Joaquín’, works from the 18th century; and the canvas with the Vera Efigie de Nuestra Señora de las Nieves, made in the 17th century, being one of the oldest preserved paintings of the Patron Saint of La Palma.