Brotherhood of the Star, Catholic confraternity in Capilla de San José, Jerez de la Frontera, Spain.
The Brotherhood of the Star, known in Jerez as La Borriquita, is a Catholic confraternity seated in the Capilla de San José on Calle Porvera. Its first paso shows Christ entering Jerusalem on a donkey, surrounded by apostles, children and women; the second carries the Virgin of the Star under a velvet canopy on a silver throne.
Founded in 1949 by former pupils and parents of the Escuela de San José, with the backing of its director, Father Tomás Bengoa, the brotherhood was presented to the Archbishopric of Seville on 16 June 1949. Its statutes, approved in 1952, tied it to the Lasallian school, whose director was to serve as chaplain. The first procession took place on Palm Sunday 1951.
Locals call the brotherhood La Borriquita, after the donkey in its Palm Sunday paso. Penitents wear a sky-blue satin hood with white tunic and cape, a twisted white-and-blue cord and black shoes, and the brotherhood's embroidered shield on the left arm.
The organization operates from Capilla de San José, where masses and religious ceremonies are held regularly throughout the year. Visitors can attend these public services to experience the community's religious life.
The Marian image was crowned canonically on 16 October 2023 by Bishop José Rico Pavés in Jerez Cathedral, then returned to the chapel in an extraordinary procession. The sculptor Sebastián Santos Rojas had kept the carving for himself, modelled on a daughter who had entered a convent, and only sold it after the brotherhood's insistence.
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