Spain – Salesian Easter will bring together around 2,000 participants to experience the faith during Holy Week
Spain – Salesian Easter will bring together around 2,000 participants to experience the faith during Holy Week
(ANS – Madrid) – Under the slogan “A love that makes history”, around 2,000 young people from Salesian communities, aged between 16 and 25, will experience Holy Week through events organised especially for them. Theatre performances, spiritual exercises, the Camino de Santiago, retreats, and the participation of Salesian associations in processions are among the initiatives planned for this special time.
Alongside the young people, several hundred youth leaders and Salesians will accompany the participants during these days, organising times of prayer, group activities, personal reflection and the religious celebrations typical of the Easter Triduum.
On this occasion it is expected that around 2,000 participants, aged between 16 and 25, will enjoy this experience to deepen their living of the Christian faith, under the motto “A love that makes history”. This slogan encapsulates the central themes of the pastoral campaigns for this academic year of the Salesian Sisters – “Trust” – and the Salesians – “Protagonists of history”–.
The gatherings will take place at various locations across Spain and on three levels, according to the participants’ ages. Salesian houses such as those in Arévalo, La Adrada, Mohernando, Cambados, La Orotava, Utrera, Antequera, San José del Valle, Burriana, Alcoy, Elche, Alicante, Villena, Ibi, Cartagena, Can Mas (Torrelles de Llobregat), and Valencia-San Juan Bosco and Valencia-San Antonio Abad. There will also be gatherings designed for families, such as those in Mohernando and Somalo, and the opportunity to experience Easter by walking the Camino de Santiago, such as the ‘Easter on the Camino’ from Lalín to Santiago de Compostela.
Lent, a time of preparation for Easter
Salesian houses have lived the season of Lent intensely as a special time of spiritual preparation for Easter. Numerous young people in schools, youth centres and social platforms have taken part in prayer initiatives, retreats and times of fellowship to prepare for the Easter season.
In addition to educational centres, parishes have also offered spaces for prayer and reflection, as well as opportunities to celebrate the sacrament of reconciliation.
Alongside these initiatives, retreat days have been organised for religious, as well as for lay groups within the Salesian Family, and days of Christian fellowship for educators and youth leaders. Further retreat sessions will take place after Holy Week, some of which will be held online.
Another experience that is becoming an annual tradition is the Camino de Santiago, in which pupils and teachers from various schools take part. Pilgrims from Salesian centres in Ciudad Real, Madrid, Aranjuez, Córdoba, Alicante and Cartagena, amongst others, have joined together on the Camino.
Artistic expression and popular devotion
In some Salesian houses, plays about the Passion of Christ are performed, such as ‘La Pasión de Cristo’ by the La Farándula Don Bosco theatre group of the Past Pupils of Seville-Trinidad, at the María Auxiliadora Theatre in Seville on 20 and 21 March, or ‘La Pasión’, an event that has marked Holy Week in Huesca for almost 80 years, with a production by the Manolo Martínez theatre group, also comprising past pupils of the Salesian house in Huesca, taking place over several days before and during Holy Week 2026 at the Salesian theatre. 150 actors take part in this theatrical event. In El Campello, the rector of the Salesian house in the Alicante town, Antonio Zaragoza, will deliver the opening address marking the start of their Holy Week.
In addition, 30 associations linked to Salesian houses, involving some 30,000 members, will carry their Holy Week floats in procession in towns such as Alcalá de Guadaíra, Algeciras, Alicante, Cádiz, Ciudad Real, Córdoba, Elche, Granada, Jerez, La Línea, Mataró, Málaga, Montilla, Palma del Río, Seville, Utrera and Santander, amongst many others. Using the hashtag #PascuaSalesiana, social media will share how the celebration of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of the Lord is experienced in the various Salesian communities.
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