EXPLORING
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By Miguel Pérez
Part 19 of a series We know her as Guadalupe. That's what the Virgin Mary asked to be called during her apparitions in Mexico (when it was called New Spain) in December of 1531.
We know how Our Lady of Guadalupe is revered as the patroness Mexico. But in territories that were once part of Mexico, you should know that La Guadalupe is also held on high pedestals. Faith and cultural traditions cannot be easily swayed by international borders. In New Mexico, I saw her everywhere! Her image is part of the environment. But in downtown Santa Fe, you get to visit the Santuario de Guadalupe, built in the late 1700s, back when Santa Fe was the capital of the province of Nuevo Mexico, in New Spain. It is now "the oldest extant shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe in the U.S." And here you feel that centuries-old Mexican faith that you thought you could only feel in Mexico. |
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In 1961, the shrine was replaced as an active Catholic parish by a new and larger Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, which was built next door. But the shrine remains open as a museum and for special events.
With thick abobe walls and ceiling beams that that are very much a part of Santa Fe's unique Spanish/Pueblo style of architecture, this shrine has been partly rebuilt and remodeled several times. But even a very destructive fire in 1922 could not damage its precious retablo behind the altar. Spanish baroque retablos (also known as altar screens) are painted wooded panels held within a frame. And this one, created in 1783, is a huge work of art by renowned Mexican painter José de Alcíbar. |
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This retablo, believed to be the largest in the United States, features La Guadalupe standing in the center, surrounded by illustrations of her 1531 apparitions. It was painted in Mexico City, and then taken apart and transported in pieces to New Mexico on El Camino Real, on mule backs!
The shrine also features an impressive statue of the Aztec peasant Juan Diego, who according to church accounts, saw and spoke with La Guadalupe on the Hill of Tepeyac, now in Villa de Guadalupe, a suburb in northern Mexico City. They spoke in Nahuatl, his native Aztec language. |
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That's where church accounts say the young woman who appeared before Juan Diego as the mother of Christ asked to be called Guadalupe, and where she asked for a church to be built there in her honor. And that's where two Basilicas of Our Lady of Guadalupe now stand. The old one opened in 1709 and the new one in 1976.
But in Santa Fe, since 2008, you don't even have to go inside the historic shrine to see La Guadalupe. Her 12-foot tall bronze statue, by Mexican artist Georgina Farias, greets you at the entrance. It's not like being at the majestic Villa de Guadalupe, of course, but it's still quite impressive.
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And since we are in a spiritual mood, feeling blessed by La Guadalupe, perhaps I should head north to the Sangre de Cristo Mountains for my next article, all the way to an important Catholic pilgrimage site, a miraculous Hispanic shrine called Santuario de Chimayó. Are you coming?
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To read other parts of this ongoing series, click: EXPLORING NEW MEXICO
