Saint Catherine's Day and Pilgrimage

Saint Catherine is Jaén's patron saint together with the Virgen de la Capilla, and her day commemorates the conquest of the city by Ferdinand III in 1246. According to legend, when the king was about to lift the siege, the saint appeared to him in a dream showing him the keys of Jaén; the next day the Muslims surrendered the fortress, and the king named Saint Catherine patron of the city, gave her name to the castle, and soon afterwards a chapel was built there for her image.

Over the centuries Jaén had two brotherhoods devoted to the saint; the one at the convent of Santa Catalina Mártir, in the La Magdalena district, was among the city's most important from the 15th century until the 1835 confiscation of church property. In 1964 a group of members re-founded the brotherhood to restore the splendour of the pilgrimage. The current neo-baroque image was carved by José María Ponsoda y Bravo in 1940.

The pilgrimage goes up from the city to the hill and Santa Catalina Castle, where the patron saint's chapel stands. The procession sets out from the parish of La Inmaculada y San Pedro Pascual, the brotherhood's seat, and Mass is celebrated in the castle's parade ground; afterwards the image returns to its chapel.

The day starts early with the saint's procession towards the castle. At midday Mass is celebrated in the parade ground, presided over in recent years by the bishop, with the mayor and city councillors attending, after which the image can be venerated in its chapel.

Then people from Jaén gather on the hill for a day out and a country meal: migas, soupy rice and, above all, grilled sardines, because, as the saying goes, 'For Saint Catherine, a sardine in every net'. In the days before there is a triduum and a proclamation speech.