The Royal Collegiate Church of Saint Hippolytus (Real Colegiata de San Hipólito in

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

) is a

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

in Córdoba, (

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

) founded in 1343 at the initiative of King

Alfonso XI of Castile Alfonso XI (13 August 131126 March 1350), called the Avenger (''el Justiciero''), was King of Castile and León. He was the son of Ferdinand IV of Castile and his wife Constance of Portugal. Upon his father's death in 1312, several disputes en ...

. The church, which was later granted in perpetuity to the

Society of Jesus , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...

, contains the

tomb A tomb ( grc-gre, τύμβος ''tumbos'') is a :wikt:repository, repository for the remains of the dead. It is generally any structurally enclosed interment space or burial chamber, of varying sizes. Placing a corpse into a tomb can be ...

s of King Ferdinand IV and his son Alfonso XI.

Background

The Royal Collegiate Church of Saint Hippolytus was part of a monastery founded by King Alfonso XI of Castile in 1343 to commemorate the victory of the Christian troops in the Battle of Salado, fought in 1340. The king wanted it to be his final resting place and also that of his father Ferdinand IV who had died in 1312 and had been interred in the

Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba The Mosque–Cathedral of Córdoba ( es, Mezquita-Catedral de Córdoba), officially known by its ecclesiastical name, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Assumption ( es, Catedral de Nuestra Señora de la Asunción), is the cathedral of the Roman ...

. On 1 August 1347,

Pope Clement VI Pope Clement VI ( la, Clemens VI; 1291 – 6 December 1352), born Pierre Roger, was head of the Catholic Church from 7 May 1342 to his death in December 1352. He was the fourth Avignon pope. Clement reigned during the first visitation of the Bla ...

issued a papal bull raising the rank of the church to that of a collegiate church so that it could be used to celebrate, with due solemnity, the Divine Offices in memory of kings. King Alfonso's devotion to Saint Hippolytus is reflected in a document issued on 2 October in Seville by which he ordered the clergy in

Jerez de la Frontera Jerez de la Frontera (), or simply Jerez (), is a Spanish city and municipality in the province of Cádiz in the autonomous community of Andalusia, in southwestern Spain, located midway between the Atlantic Ocean and the Cádiz Mountains. , the ...

and

Sanlúcar de Barrameda Sanlúcar de Barrameda (), or simply Sanlúcar, is a city in the northwest of Cádiz province, part of the autonomous community of Andalucía in southern Spain. Sanlúcar is located on the left bank at the mouth of the Guadalquivir River oppos ...

to celebrate anniversary masses for the souls of his ancestors on different days, particularly on the

feast day The calendar of saints is the traditional Christian method of organizing a liturgical year by associating each day with one or more saints and referring to the day as the feast day or feast of said saint. The word "feast" in this context d ...

of Saint Hippolytus which coincided with the day on which the king had been born. Work on the construction of the church progressed very slowly and only the

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

and the crossing had been completed during the reigns of Alfonso XI and of his son and successor, King

Peter I Peter I may refer to: Religious hierarchs * Saint Peter (c. 1 AD – c. 64–88 AD), a.k.a. Simon Peter, Simeon, or Simon, apostle of Jesus * Pope Peter I of Alexandria (died 311), revered as a saint * Peter I of Armenia (died 1058), Catholico ...

. The rest of the building was not completed until the 18th-century when, in 1729, the construction of the church was resumed with the acquiescence of King

Philip V of Spain Philip V ( es, Felipe; 19 December 1683 – 9 July 1746) was King of Spain from 1 November 1700 to 14 January 1724, and again from 6 September 1724 to his death in 1746. His total reign of 45 years is the longest in the history of the Spanish mon ...

. Seven years later, in 1736 the work had been completed although several other structures were built during the 18th and the 19th centuries. During the reign of Queen

Isabel II of Spain Isabella II ( es, Isabel II; 10 October 1830 – 9 April 1904), was Queen of Spain from 29 September 1833 until 30 September 1868. Shortly before her birth, the King Ferdinand VII of Spain issued a Pragmatic Sanction to ensure the successio ...

the church lost its classification as a collegiate church, although it is still known by that name, and remained open for religious services. At the end of the 19th-century, it was granted in perpetuity to the Jesuits who continue to govern it today.

Tombs of Kings Ferdinand IV and Alfonso XI

In September 1312, a few days after his death in Jaén the remains of King Ferdinand IV were transferred to the city of Córdoba and on the 13th of the same month, interred in a chapel at the Mosque-Cathedral although originally he was to be buried either at the

Cathedral of Toledo , native_name_lang = , image = Toledo Cathedral, from Plaza del Ayuntamiento.jpg , imagesize = 300px , imagelink = , imagealt = , landscape = , caption ...

near his father Sancho IV or in the

Cathedral of Seville The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See ( es, Catedral de Santa María de la Sede), better known as Seville Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Seville, Andalusia, Spain. It was registered in 1987 by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, along ...

next to his paternal grandfather

Alfonso X Alfonso X (also known as the Wise, es, el Sabio; 23 November 1221 – 4 April 1284) was King of Castile, León and Galicia from 30 May 1252 until his death in 1284. During the election of 1257, a dissident faction chose him to be king of Germ ...

and his great-grandfather Ferdinand III. Because of the high temperatures in that month, his widow, Queen

Constance Constance may refer to: Places *Konstanz, Germany, sometimes written as Constance in English *Constance Bay, Ottawa, Canada * Constance, Kentucky * Constance, Minnesota * Constance (Portugal) * Mount Constance, Washington State People * Consta ...

and the king's brother,

Peter of Castile Peter ( es, Pedro; 30 August 133423 March 1369), called the Cruel () or the Just (), was King of Castile and León from 1350 to 1369. Peter was the last ruler of the main branch of the House of Ivrea. He was excommunicated by Pope Urban V for ...

decided to bury the king at the Mosque-Cathedral in Córdoba which was nearer to the place where he had died. His son, King Alfonso XI died in March 1350 during the

Great Plague The Black Death (also known as the Pestilence, the Great Mortality or the Plague) was a bubonic plague pandemic occurring in Western Eurasia and North Africa from 1346 to 1353. It is the most fatal pandemic recorded in human history, causi ...

, at the Fifth Siege of Gibraltar. His remains were first interred in the Royal Chapel in the Cathedral of Seville, near his ancestors, although his wish had been to be buried in the Church of Saint Hippolytus near his father. In 1371, when the Royal Chapel at the Mosque-Cathedral in Córdoba had been completed, Alfonso's son, Henry II, ordered that this father's remains were to be interred there next to King Fernando IV. The tombs of both kings remained in the Royal Chapel until the evening of 8 August 1736 when they were transferred to the Church of Saint Hippolytus On 12 May 2008, the church was declared a ''

Bien de Interés Cultural A Bien de Interés Cultural is a category of the heritage register in Spain. The term is also used in Venezuela and other Spanish-speaking countries. The term literally means a "good of cultural interest" ("goods" in the economic sense) and inclu ...

'' (Spanish Property of Cultural Interest), reference number RI-51.0012151-0000.

Gallery

File:Sepulcro de Fernando IV de Castilla. Iglesia de San Hipólito de Córdoba.jpg, Tomb of King Ferdinand IV of Castile File:Sepulcro de Alfonso XI el Justiciero.JPG, Tomb of King Alfonso XI of Castile File:Altar mayor y sagrario. Iglesia de San Hipólito de Córdoba.jpg, High altar and

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle ( he, מִשְׁכַּן, mīškān, residence, dwelling place), also known as the Tent of the Congregation ( he, link=no, אֹהֶל מוֹעֵד, ’ōhel mō‘ēḏ, also Tent of Meeting, etc.), ...

. File:Torre de San Hipólito de Córdoba.JPG, Tower of the church File:Interior de la iglesia de San Hipólito de Córdoba.JPG, Interior of the church

References

Bibliography

* * * *

External links

Description of the church in the Arte en Córdoba website
{{Authority control Buildings and structures in Córdoba, Spain Historic centre of Córdoba, Spain Roman Catholic churches in Córdoba, Spain Bien de Interés Cultural landmarks in the Province of Córdoba (Spain)