This brotherhood is founded in 1589, whose constitutions will be accepted by the bishopric on April 29, 1589, being therefore the third to appear in the province and bishopric of Córdoba.

Whenever we try to approach the origins of the brotherhood of Nazarene Jesus of Baena, we inevitably have to refer to the establishment of the Franciscan order in our town, not only in terms of their chronological relationship, but especially considering that within the brotherhoods No penance like the one that worships Jesus on Calvary's path has deeper Franciscan roots. And in the case of Baena, the action of the friars of San Francisco is so decisive that it is not possible to conceive the birth and structuring of the Nazarene brotherhood without their help and direction.

As regards the appearance of the brotherhoods of Jesus Nazareno in the province of Córdoba chronologically occupies the first place of the capital, whose statutes were approved in March 1579 by the Bishop of Buenos Aires, Brother Martín de Córdoba y Mendoza.

It is followed by that of Cabra, created in 1586, and whose statutes were approved by the bishop in July of the following year.

And after her, that of Baena, whose constitutions will be accepted by the bishopric on April 29, 1589, being therefore the third to appear in the province and bishopric of Córdoba.

The brotherhood of Baena presents a note that makes it different from all the others, and is the accentuously Franciscan character, to the point of integrating from its origin in the secular tertiary movement, forming part of the Archicofradía del Cordón de San Francisco.

Mrs María Sarmiento de Mendoza was the daughter of the secretary of Carlos V, Don Francisco de los Cobos and María de Mendoza y Pimentel, VII Countess of Rivadavia. He married in 1538 in Valladolid with the only male grandson of the Dukes of Sessa, Don Gonzalo, who among other titles met those of III Duke of Santángelo, III Duke of Sessa, III of Newfoundland, III of Andria, V count of Cabra, V Viscount of Iznájar and Lord of Baena, Rute, Doña Mencía and Albendín, and in 1566 Felipe II granted him the Duchy of Baena for his services in Flanders and Italy. Since then, and for three years the marriage resides in Baena, until in 1569, the king chooses him to accompany his young brother D. Juan of Austria in the war against the Moors of Granada. From then on the stays of the Duke in Baena are very few and short.

While her husband lived, the Duchess had her residence in several places, mainly Granada, and especially Baena, from where she attended the affairs of the Spanish states of D. Gonzalo in her frequent absences due to services to the Crown.

Surely it was during the frequent stays in Baena when the arrival of the Franciscans to Baena and the founding of his convent, that of San Francisco, took place, perhaps she who had a part in her coming to Baena, and of course erecting from the first moment in patron of the new foundation. Apart from the transfer of the primitive house and adjacent lots for its expansion, there is the issuance of a license to the nascent community to drive the waters of a fountain near the convent courtyard, and this fact appears dated in 1561. From the words of the text it can be deduced that the convent was already founded, and of course the beneficiary community was already settled in Baena. This data allows us to approach with greater certainty the date of foundation provided by Valverde. Presumably, shortly after this date the convent would be already erected, if only in its most indispensable part.

Incidiendo ya plenamente en el tema que nos ocupa, en dos pilares se basa la formación de la cofradía de los Nazarenos de Baena:
1. La devoción a la Virgen de los Santos.
2. La aportación franciscana.

The first brotherhoods: The Virgin of the Saints.

During the central years of the 16th century the brotherhoods dedicated to the cult of Marian images in the Baenense territory experience extraordinary development, among which we must mention the three that were considered at some time as patrons of Baena: Virgin of Guadalupe, Virgin of Albendín and Virgin of the Saints.

Virgin of the Saints.

In Baena the tradition existed since ancient times that a few years after the conquest by San Fernando, specifically in 1245, when the border with the Muslims was still quite permeable and the internships in enemy territory by both sides were frequent, he had place a meeting of a few Christians with a group of Moors superior in number. It is known that Christians were able to reject the enemy attack by taking refuge in a tower that still exists on Mount Horquera, whose interior revealed an image of the Virgin that had remained boarded up during the Arab domination, so it was attributed to the protection of She won.

To commemorate this fact, the tower was converted into a hermitage, where for centuries it received the devotion of the inhabitants of the area under the invocation of Virgen de los Santos (figure 6). Later, a small house for the santero in charge of his cult would be built annexed to it. The group of Christians defending the tower protected by the Virgin was represented in a painting that was kept in the hermitage.

As usual, she soon began to be credited with a miraculous reputation, and in a special way, as a lawyer and protector against natural calamities, such as droughts or epidemics, sharing that protection with that of Albendín. For that reason, devotion to this sacred image took deep root in Baena, who had it for her protector and patron, revered it in her hermitage of the Mount and bringing it to the people when the occasion of special protection was presented, as in time of epidemic, drought or other calamity.

At the same time a brotherhood appeared in Baena, which under the name of the Virgin of the Saints, took charge of everything that referred to the cult of the mentioned image. The first written news provided by Aranda Doncel corresponds to the year of 1576, when the hermitage was built.

At an imprecise moment, but in all likelihood coinciding with the post-Tridentine religious fervor, it seems that a brotherhood or brotherhood called "Nazareos" or "Nazarenes" is created in Baena, in charge of the worship of the venerated image.

Franciscan fraternities: The Third Order of Penance.

The Third Order were laymen of both genders linked to mendicant orders by spirit and to profit from the preeminence granted by the popes. It has been said that its origin is in the so-called "penitents" that have spread throughout Europe since the twelfth century, which were associated to seek a perfecting of religious life, forming "fraternities."

Precisely the first friars who lived with Francisco de Asís called themselves "penitents." Its founder was grouping them in a masculine order (minor friars), which was followed by another feminine one (Poor Clares).

The success was so great that soon lay groups wanted to join the movement as well, and so they asked San Francisco, who wrote the first rule for them. These were organized in secular fraternities, both men and women, who lived as Brothers and Sisters of Penance and who felt members of the great Franciscan Family. Thus was born the "Order of Penance" or Third Franciscan Order.

The Cordon of Saint Francisco.

stablished the Franciscans in Baena and enjoying special protection from the Duchess of Sessa, there is no doubt that their attraction would soon be felt, at least among the population sector near the convent.

In 1585 Pope Sixtus V founded the archicofradía of the Cordon de San Francisco, in whose rule all the graces granted were collected. The Pope grants plenary indulgence to those who die "confessed and contrite" and do so with the tight Franciscan cord.

The cord worn by the Franciscans derives from that used by the first friars to tie the sayal; It has three knots, meaning OBEDIENCE, CHASTITY and POVERTY, the three foundations of the order created by Francisco de Asís.

For the third order, the habit is a sign of conversion or penance. By taking the habit, the new brother dresses the new man and establishes a commitment to a new lifestyle

n the founding bull, it is specified at the end that the breach of the rule does not entail any type of fault, neither mortal nor venial. Therefore, the new order is presented as an option to be followed by those who may have some difficulty submitting to a more austere rule.

It is very clear that under the Franciscan influence and by the cofradistic spirit of the time, a group of sympathizers was organized in Baena that could well be the one that survived from the old brotherhood of the Virgin of the Saints, who later adopted the modality Third Secular Order, which, without the need to profess as religious, tended to reach their spiritual perfection by observing the Franciscan rule.

And so the end of the process is reached. As stated in its primitive constitutions, there was the union of the two previous brotherhoods in the new Nazarenes. Both should have common places, perhaps the coincidence of some secular brothers in both, their membership in the same parish of San Pedro and the desire of the Franciscans to enhance the cult of the Nazarene would determine the approach at the end of the century, until the point of causing the merger when the conditions were favorable.

With this decision, everyone benefited:

The friars, who thus created another brotherhood in their convent, called to have a prosperous life, being united to a universal movement of the order, which would increase the number of cofrades, and the economic benefits that they could provide to the convent, due to mandatory or voluntary alms, sale of habits and cords, masses, parties and sermons, creation of pious works based in the convent and some more

Los propios cofrades, que se hacían partícipes de “todas las gracias e indulgencias y preminencias concedidas por Su Sd “, de que eran titulares los integrantes de la archicofradía del Cordón. Y junto con ellos, el quedar exentos de la jurisdicción diocesana y sus visitas, dependiendo sólo directamente del Sumo Pontífice, o a través de los visitadores y guardianes de la propia orden. Tenían además ciertas ventajas económicas, como era estar exentos de pagar determinados impuestos por el hecho de pertenecer a la cofradía..

When the brotherhood of the Cordon del Padre San Francisco disappears, the Brotherhood of Nazarenes is the only founder of the Brotherhood, although it is true that this primitive brotherhood of 1589 was not yet called of Our Father Jesus Nazarene, in its evolution we have found three different names : Brotherhood of the Nazarenes, Brotherhood of Jesus Nazarene and Brotherhood of Our Father Jesus Nazarene.