Global InformationRoyal and Venerable Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra information
38°56′13.8″N 9°19′31.9″W / 38.937167°N 9.325528°W
Real e Venerável Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento de Mafra | |
 Emblem of the Confraternity | |
| Abbreviation | RVISSM |
|---|---|
| Formation | 16th century |
| Type | Catholic public association |
| Headquarters | Basilica of Our Lady and Saint Anthony of Mafra, Mafra, Portugal |
The Royal and Venerable Confraternity of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra, alternatively, the Royal and Venerable Brotherhood of the Most Blessed Sacrament of Mafra (Portuguese: Real e Venerável Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento de Mafra), is a public association of faithful of the Catholic Church, canonically established in the Basilica of Our Lady and Saint Anthony of Mafra, Portugal.
The confraternity is one of the oldest institutions in the municipality of Mafra. It organizes the Corpus Christi solemnity and organizes the four traditional processions of the season of Lent in Mafra:
- The procession of the Passion of the Lord (Portuguese: Procissão do Senhor Jesus dos Passos);
- The procession of Penance of the Third Order of Saint Francis (Portuguese: Procissão de Penitência da Ordem Terceira de São Francisco);
- The procession of Seven Sorrows of Our Lady (Portuguese: Procissão das Sete Dores de Nossa Senhora); and
- The procession of the Burial of the Lord (Portuguese: Procissão do Enterro do Senhor).
Over time, the confraternity has been the custodian of several relics. Those include Louis XV of France's coronation shirt, which he wore for the ceremony in Reims Cathedral.[1][2]
The confraternity also holds the largest collection of processional mannequin-style images (Portuguese: imagens de vestir or imagens de roca) in the country. Some of these are still used for religious processions.[3]
Part of the confraternity ceremonies and religious functions take place with the sound of the basilica's six historical pipe organs and two Mafra carillons.
- ^ Saldanha Lopes, Luiz. A camisa da sagração de Luís XV e a Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento de Mafra/La Chemise du Sacre de Louis XV et la Confrérie du Très Saint Sacrement de Mafra (in Portuguese and French). Vol. 1.ª ed. Mafra: Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento de Mafra, 2016.
- ^ "La Chemise du Sacre de Louis XV". Le Forum de Marie-Antoinette (in French).
- ^ Henriques, Tiago, "A Real e Venerável Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento da Paróquia de Santo André de Mafra – A Antiga e Nobre Colegiada de Santo André da Vila de Mafra e a Instituição da Irmandade do Santíssimo Sacramento", in Mafra Sacra : memória & património, 1717–2017 (...), p. 167–77.