Carrying a large cross, Raul Garcia portrays Jesus in the 2024 production of the passion play at Travis Park.
Josie Norris/San Antonio Express-News
Mary, played by Erika Grano, holds the body of Jesus Christ, played by Oliver Calderon, during a 2023 reenactment of Christ’s crucifixion in downtown San Antonio.
Jerry Lara/San Antonio Express-News
Jesus Christ, played by Felix Flores, carries the cross along Houston Street on the way to his crucifixion during the annual passion play on Good Friday in 2009.
BILLY CALZADA/SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
Catholic faithful participate in the 1985 passion play in downtown San Antonio.
Express-News archives
A local Good Friday tradition that has taken place on downtown streets for over 40 years continues this Easter season.
The annual staging of the passion of the Christ typically draws thousands of faithful, and will again take place on Good Friday this year.
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The play depicts the trial, suffering and death of Jesus Christ as a procession in the streets.
The production will start at 9:30 a.m. with a bilingual ecumenical service at Travis Park. Participants then leave from the park, following the same route as last year: down Jefferson Street toward East Houston Street, where it continues before turning onto North Main Avenue and then onto East Commerce Street.
As in previous years, the procession concludes around noon in front of San Fernando Cathedral, with a dramatization of the crucifixion.
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This week’s San Antonio Explained takes a look at the annual tradition, and how it has evolved over decades.
How did it start?
The first passion play staged downtown was produced mostly for the congregation at San Fernando. Parishioners there wanted to observe Good Friday beyond the church setting. It’s believed the first production took place in 1983.
The event has been held every year except in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic forced its cancelation due to health and safety concerns. A live, in-person passion play was not held in 2021. Instead, a performance was recorded and shown on television and online.
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Early productions had limited resources, and while the plays also included a procession, city streets were not blocked off.
Mario Mandujano, a longtime director of the passion play, first volunteered with the event in 1984. Participants wearing costumes and carrying props walked on the sidewalks and waited at traffic lights during the early years, he said. At the time, the route went from Milam Park to the cathedral.
“Sometimes people would see what we were doing and let us go,” Mandujano told the San Antonio Express-News in 2024.
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It wasn’t until the late 1980s that streets were blocked off, Mandujano said, and that’s around the time that the production took on a grander scale, drawing thousands.
An estimated 22,000 people attended in 2019, according to published reports, with similar numbers documented in other years.
Where does it take place?
The passion play procession followed the same route for years — commencing at Milam Park near Historic Market Square and ending at the cathedral a few blocks away.
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Road closures caused by ongoing construction downtown in recent years required rerouting of the procession, which now starts at Travis Park and heads to Main Plaza, where the program concludes in front of San Fernando Cathedral.
The procession takes about two hours, as thousands of Catholic faithful follow along and line the streets.
How does it come together?
All the work is done by volunteers, and staging the event requires about 75 people.
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Finding participants isn’t difficult, and it’s never been necessary to recruit volunteers, Mandujano said in a 2024 interview.
Parishioners, including those from outside the cathedral’s congregation, were eager to participate even before the play drew thousands and received media attention from around the country, he said.
Many of the volunteers are San Fernando parishioners, and some come from other churches in the city. All must be active Catholics and speak Spanish, since only parts of the program are in English.
Rehearsals begin about two months before Good Friday and typically require four to six hours of practice a week. The hours involved increase during Holy Week, when it’s common for volunteers to spend up to five hours daily working on the production, Mandujano has said.
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A few roles require more rehearsal. Some duties, like preparing costumes and props, take up more time. The actor who portrays Jesus carries a cross that weighs about 70 pounds for several blocks, so he must be strong enough for the task.
Mandujano has credited the play’s committed volunteers with helping to draw such big crowds over the years.
“You see people crying,” he said of the audience reaction to the passion play. “It’s not the language. Some might not understand Spanish. It’s the way we act it. It’s the emotion.”
Can I watch online?
The passion play will be broadcast live from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Catholic Television of San Antonio-CTSA Channel 15 and on the CTSA app. A recording will be available to view on the CTSA YouTube channel and its Facebook page.
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For those attending in person, the cathedral is hosting other Good Friday events.
At 1 p.m., Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller will preside over the reciting of las siete palabras, also known as the final words or sayings of Jesus.
A bilingual service of the Lord’s passion takes place inside the cathedral at 3 p.m.
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