Don Jenaro, by whose name he is known to everyone in the town of La Codosera, was an important figure of his time, deeply Christian, and gifted with a special talent for the art of religious imagery. He was also a magnificent draftsman. His workshop produced great works of religious imagery, goldsmithing, and a large number of oil paintings and charcoal sketches.
It is a duty of justice and gratitude to remember him in his proper place, as he was one of the three people who, together with Don Juan Antonio Galán y Galán, parish priest of this town, and the mayor Don Agustín Costo, promoted the construction of the Chandavila Sanctuary, supported by the brotherhood of that time, as well as by the alms of the members of the congregation and devotees of Our Lady of Chandavila.
Don Jenaro comes from a predominantly Christian family, especially on his mother’s side. This led to his family having several religious men and one nun. At least four priests and the nun, whom I will show you below, have been located. All of them, like our artist, belong to the Calatayud region (Zaragoza).
Our sculptor was born on October 28, 1901, in a small town, which in those years had about 1,200 inhabitants called Villalengua (Zaragoza), this town being eminently agricultural and livestock.
His father, Juan José Lázaro, was a farmer from Villalengua, and his mother from Paracuellos de Jiloca, both towns in the province and region of Calatayud (Zaragoza). His mother was a housewife. He had at least three siblings, named Carmen, Leandro Antonio, and José. The first two died very young, and José died in late 1950.
He grew up in a family with strong religious convictions, especially on his mother’s side. When Don Jenaro was a child, she would take him to pray before the Virgin of Solitude in Fuentes de Jiloca (Zaragoza). Don Jenaro grew to have a great affection for this image, which was destroyed in
a fire in 1964, and our sculptor, upon learning of this, offered to make a new one, offering all kinds of facilities for its payment.
He lived at 36 Pilar Street in Villalengua, and later moved to 13 Mayor Street. It was there, at the age of 8, that he began to make his first “sculptures,” taking clay from his yard and beginning to model images.
Upon leaving the house, the new tenant found in one room numerous clay figures he had made and dried in the sun. He spent the little money he was given buying colored pencils for drawing, activities his parents considered a waste of time. It was the local doctor, upon seeing his models, who gave him a few brief anatomy lessons. Noticing the qualities of this young sculptor, he advised his parents to send him to Zaragoza to learn and develop his skills, spending about six years there.
At the age of 13, he moved in with his uncle Manuel Gumiel, his mother’s brother, in Paracuellos de Jiloca (Zaragoza). There, he continued his hobbies of modeling and drawing, taking clay from the river to make his figures. An elderly lady from this town comments that she had always heard that Don Jenaro was already developing an artistic talent, because when he and his friends went to the Jiloca River, they would take clay from the riverbank and all make pots, casseroles, jugs, etc., except for Don Jenaro, who always modeled human figures.
Our sculptor was a man of medium height, gifted with great talent, cultured, with noble features, simple, delicate, charitable, austere, rather shy, and a quiet person. He called himself an “Island Man.” He was not enthusiastic about medals, nor did he engage in struggles or maneuvers to obtain them. He was a great Christian, a very assiduous attender of the Eucharist, in which he always received the Blessed Sacrament. He was a man of God and a good son of his Church.
His spiritual nourishment was the prayer of the Liturgy of the Hours; the Ora et Labora was a fixture in his life. He was a great devotee of the Virgin Mary, especially in the title of Our Lady of Sorrows, for he said his mother was also named Our Lady of Sorrows, for whom he held a deep affection. He is possibly the sculptor who created the most sculptures of the Virgin Mary in her title of Our Lady of Sorrows.
There are numerous testimonies about him from people who knew him, and they all agree on his religiosity, charity, and kindness.
As a small example, proof of his extreme generosity, I can truthfully mention that he financially assisted two young seminarians so they could complete their studies. He often helped victims of repression from our last Civil War to get their lives back on track, either by giving them work or finding them employment elsewhere, as well as by providing financial support.
He provided numerous aids to anonymous people, parishes of which we are unaware of, because Don Jenaro practiced the biblical saying “let your right hand not know what your left hand is doing.”
He belonged to the Congregation of San Felipe Neri, working as a volunteer at a charity hospital in Madrid, assisting tuberculosis patients with whatever they needed.
He made numerous carvings that are spread throughout Spain, as well as others that are located in Chile, New York, Mexico, etc.
This magnificent life-size wooden carving, made in 1951, is venerated at the Mother House in Madrid. It cost 25,000 pesetas, with 9,000 pesetas deducted from this price for the following: “The return of 9,000 pesetas to the Community of the Servants of Mary is made by the undersigned sculptor, in thanksgiving for favors received through the intercession of the Blessed, for devotion to her, and for the affection, sympathy, admiration, and love for the charitable work carried out by this institution.” Most of the carvings in the convents of the Servants of Mary are by Don Jenaro.
Aware that this carving was destined for a very important place, our sculptor requested and obtained authorization and traveled from Madrid to the Monastery of Guadalupe in Extremadura to take measurements and photographs of the original image of Santa María de Guadalupe. This replica is made of wood; the hands and face of the Virgin and Child are patinated ivory, the angels adorning the pedestal are bronze, and the scepter, the small face, and the crown are gold-plated. The mantle she wears is a copy of the one given and embroidered by Infanta Isabel Clara Eugenia, eldest daughter of King Philip II, in 1550 for the patron saint of the Extremadura monastery.
The image toured the most emblematic towns of Extremadura, as a farewell from a mother to her children in Extremadura, grand receptions were held in every town through which it passed by civil, military, and ecclesiastical authorities. The reception in Badajoz was described by the newspaper Hoy as magnificent. Triduums and grand farewells were also held. After this pilgrimage, and some time after, it was sent by air to Mexico, via Cuba, since at that time, Spain had no commercial relations with Mexico due to the recent conflict of the Civil War.
Once in Mexico City, and wanting to be enthroned in the Basilica of Tepeyac, she was rejected by the canons of said Basilica, who stated that it would “perpetuate the Spanish conquest in Mexico.”
To solve this previously unforeseen problem, Mr. March, a Mexican cotton industrialist of Spanish origin who had shipped the statue from Spain, placed it in the chapel of the Spanish Hospital in Mexico City. Later, in the 1960s, this statue was loaned annually to the Parish of the Holy Family, also in Mexico City, for Holy Week processions.
On one of the many occasions the image was loaned to this parish, it disappeared, and its whereabouts and the cause of its disappearance are still unknown. Efforts are currently underway to locate it.
It’s a simple, beautiful, and appealing image. It’s one of the traditionally dressed figures in Castilian style. In this case, she wears a beautiful maroon dress and cloak with gold embroidery. She stands 1.60 meters tall. She was created with her eyes filled with tears and her hands spread open, praying for mercy and love. It was carved in 1949 by our sculptor.
It is about Saint Peter the Baptista bronze work made in 1944 and located in one of the town’s squares, it depicts a cross and the spears with which he was martyred in Japan. This image was commissioned by the San Esteban del Valle City Council (Ávila), as this is the town where the saint was born.
A bronze sculpture presented by Don Jenaro to the Archbishop of Valladolid, a prelate who held Don Jenaro in high regard for his artistic talents and human qualities and commissioned numerous works. This image is located in the Convent of the Discalced Carmelites in Tordesillas (Valladolid).
For this work our sculptor received the 8th Medal at the A. Aragoneses exhibition in 1947.
Photograph published with permission of the Zaragoza City Council.
In 1955, Jenaro received the 3rd Medal at the National Exhibition for the presentation of an image of Saint John, and the 2nd Silver Medal at the Salon of Aragonese Artists. The latter for the carving of a self-portrait nominated “The Artist Friar,” carved in bronze and patinated ivory.
It is a self-portrait of Don Jenaro, holding a highly stylized Virgin in his hands, in a profound attitude of prayer. It was acquired by the Zaragoza City Council in 1945 and loaned by this entity to be exhibited and presented at the Velázquez Gallery in Seville in November 1950.
Property of the Brotherhood of the Precious Blood in Valladolid, carved by Don Jenaro in 1953. This carving is carried in procession every year during Holy Week.
Work carried out by Don Jenaro in 1951, and blessed on December 8, 1952, the day of the Immaculate Conception, its style is modernized Gothic. The hexagonal canopy houses an ivory reproduction of the Immaculate Conception, a copy of the one on the main altar. The Virile, intended for the Sacred Form, is removable and is surrounded by a large group of pearls. The sun of the monstrance is made of gold-plated silver and is surrounded by twelve seraphim carved in ivory. The base of the monstrance is formed by a group of three archangels. The group and pedestal rest on another of gilded silver, and this one on green Granada marble. Its back consists of a glow surrounded by stars, angels in fine enamels and colored stones. Its height is 1.70 meters tall, it is constructed with 33 kilos of silver, 587 grams of gold, and 20 grams of platinum. Its precious stones include 832 brilliant-cut diamonds, 143 emeralds, 88 rubies, 5 roses, 1 garnet, 61 sapphires, 26 topazes, 29 amethysts, 2 agates, and 245 pearls. The silver, gold, platinum, and jewels were donated by parishioners. Don Jenaro charged 125,000 pesetas for its construction. It is located in the parish of Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception, on Goya Street in Madrid.
Don Jenaro died in La Codosera as a result of a heart attack on September 15, 1977, the day that, liturgically, marks the Marian feast of Our Lady of Sorrows. His death was deeply felt, given the great esteem that Don Jenaro had earned, and quite deservedly so, in this town.
As another fact in his life, Lola Gala states that Don Jenaro always said that he wanted to die on the “Day of Sorrows”, because as has already been said several times, he was a great devotee of this devotion.
It is as if Our Lady of Sorrows had invited him to share this celebration with Her forever.
Chapel where Don Jenaro Lázaro Gumiel rests in the Peace of the Lord.
The Descent” and the small image of Our Lady of Sorrows are works by our sculptor and donated to the Sanctuary.
