Lecture Six Fall 2014

Lecture Six
Fall 2014
Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco
about 1519, today Mexico City
• Series of small
islands
• Canals cross the
city
• Floating gardens
(tenampas)
Tenochtitlan
before 1519
The Great Pyramid of Cholula
The Spaniards built a church on top of it in 1596, Nuestra Señora de los Remedios.
•
•
You see, as the conquerors
from Spain moved through
Central and South America,
they would tear down the
pagan temples that they found
and build churches in their
places. It was their way of
asserting not only the
dominance of the Spanish, but
also of Catholicism over the
native religions.
The Native Americans had
spent thousands of years
building a lot of temples and
shrines, so there were a lot of
churches built to replace
them. Many of these shrines
and temples had been elevated
by placing them on top of
stone pyramids
Zuni, Looking Southeast, 1879,
John K. Hillers, 10” x 14”
•
•
•
•
•
•
Devotion to the mother of God under the title of
our Lady of Guadalupe dates from the close of the
sixth century.
Mount Extremadura in Spain, was favored as the
scene of the miraculous apparition of the Blessed
According to local legends, the Virgin Mary
appeared one day to a humble cowboy named Gil
Cordero who was searching for a missing animal in
the mountains.
She told him that a statue of her had been hidden
there from the Muslims, centuries before, and she
ordered him to bring the local bishop to recover
her image and to build a church.
So the bishop and his men came back with him to
the site of the vision, unearthed a marvelous statue
that was an image of Mary, and built a shrine in the
mountains.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, along with Santiago de
Compostela became rallying points for the Christian
Spaniards in their re-conquest of Iberia.
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Mount Estremadura, Spain
One of three black Virgin Mary’s in Spain
Tepeyac had also been the site of an
ancient temple to the Aztec goddess
(Our Revered Mother)
• Tonantzin is believed to be a
manifestation of the Earth Mother,
known as Coatlicue, the mother of
all living things, who conceived by
immaculate and miraculous means.
• She was also the one to decide the
length of life; to the Mexica, the
earth was both mother and tomb,
the giver of life and the devourer.
Tonantzin
Our Lady of Guadalupe and Juan Diego
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mexico City
Built on a lake bed and was sinking into the ground
Basilica of Our Lady of
Guadalupe
Mexico City
The new Basilica houses the original tilma (or apron) of Juan Diego that shows the
icon of Our Lady of Guadalupe. It is one of the most important pilgrimage sites of
Catholicism and is visited by several million people every year, especially around
December 12, Our Lady of Guadalupe's Feast day.
• She is always modeled after the picture in
the basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City,
which is said to have been miraculously
painted on the garment of the Indian Juan
Diego, to who the Virgin appeared four
times in 1531.
• She wears a red gown, star-strewn blue
cloak, and is surrounded by a nimbus of
flames.
•
At her feet are an angle and crescent
moon.
• She becomes the patron saint to the
native people who have converted to
Catholicism.
Our Lady of Guadalupe
La Morena
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
José Aragón
Kingdom of the Saints, pg 124
•
•
•
•
•
•
Feast day December 12
The Virgin Mary standing in a body halo,
supported on an upturned crescent moon
and a winged angel.
As legend has it, the Virgin Mary appeared
to an Indian man, Juan Diego in 1531, just
ten years after the conquest of the Aztecs
She requested that a church be built at the
site of the apparition—a hill in Tepeyac,a
sacred Aztec site.
As the archbishop of Mexico did not believe
Juan Diego's story initially,
Juan Diego brought him a miraculously
imprinted Image of the Virgin on his cape a
proof
12
This is the banner carried by
Father Miguel Hidalgo and his
anti-Spanish insurgent army
circa 1810.
• La morena
• Our Lady of Guadalupe was
proclaimed the patroness of
Latin America in 1910.
• Her role is not limited to
religious matters, but has
become a symbol of Mexico’s
nationalism and identity.
• She becomes a spiritual,
Camping Zapatista
1922
Fernando Leal
Oil on canvas
• Revolutionary
Followers of Emiliano
Zapata at camp.
• The likeness of the
Virgin of Guadalupe,
a symbol of the
Zapatistas, is shown
on his sombrero.
Migrant Farm workers
United Farm Workers
• Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez walks through a field with farm workers, one of whom carries a
banner with Our Lady of Guadalupe on it, circa 1971.
Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Northwest Denver
mural by Carlota Espinoza
1976
• Mural cover by wall
• Faithful United
San Juan Diego, 1998
Madrid Martin
Regis Collection RU379
•
On July 31, 2002, the late Holy Father visited
Mexico City and declared sainthood of Blessed
Juan Diego. The feast day of St. Juan Diego is
Dec. 9
Saint James the Apostle
Feast day: July 25
•
After the crucifixion of Christ legend has it that
St. James went as a missionary to the Iberian
Peninsula (part of the Roman Empire then) and
returned to Jerusalem leaving behind a few
converts.
•
Shortly afterwards he became one of the first
Christian martyrs when he was beheaded on
the orders of King Herod (about 44AD).
•
The legend then continues with the body of St.
James being taken by his followers to the coast
where a boat was waiting.
•
The body of the saint was taken inland to what
is now Santiago where he was buried in a tomb
on a hillside.
Saint James
The Crypt containing the remains of St. James
Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• Saint James remains are said to be housed in Compostella, Spain where a
popular Medieval church was erected in his honor.
• Compostella became the third most popular pilgrimage site in
Christendom, following Jerusalem and Rome
El Camino de Santigao (Way of St. James)
St James the Moor-Slayer
Santiago Matamoros
Feast day: July 25
• The Cathedral of Santiago was made
to commemorate the appearance of
St James during the Battle of Clavijo in
844 to aid the Spanish crusaders to
defeat the Moorish army
• Summoned by the dreams and
prayers of the faithful asking for help.
• Santiago appeared to them riding a
fierce, white horse out of the sky,
galloping down from the Milky Way.
• Sword in hand, he hacked thousands
of "Moors" to death and the horse
tramples Moors under its hooves
• The apparition of Santigo in battles
have brought victory to the Spanards
Santuario de Chimayo
Saint James Conqueror of the Moor
Santiago Matamoros
Santuario de Chimayo
Antonio Molleno
Feast day: July 25
•
•
•
•
Patronage: of warriors, especially
when fighting the enemies of the
church and patron of horsemen
In the New World no less than
fourteen apparitions of Santiago in
battles between Spanish and Indians
are recorded.
One of these was in aid of Juan Onate
during a battle with the Acoma
Pueblo in New Mexico in 1599.
He is usually show him in the military
dress of the conquistadors but others
depict the clothes of the late 18th
century.
Acoma Pueblo
• At least 1,200 years old, New Mexico's Acoma Pueblo—the longest
continuously inhabited settlement in North America—remains a
touchstone for a resilient indigenous culture
Trail/stairs up and down
Acoma Pueblo
The mission church of San Esteban Rey,
built at the pueblo from 1629 to 1641
Sept 2 San Estevan Feast Day.
San Jose de Gracia,
Trampas, New Mexico
San Jose de Gracia,
Trampas, New Mexico
Altar Screen
Our Lady of the Rosary church
Las Trampas, New Mexico
• Santiago Matamoros-located
top center
• Jose Aragon
Nuestra Señora de la Asunción (Our Lady of the Assumption)
Mary at her death was taken body and soul into heaven
Nuestra Señora de La Conquista (La Conquistadora)
Renamed Nuestra Señora de la Paz in 1992
CATHEDRAL BASILICA OF ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI, Santa Fe, New Mexico
• Detail of La Conquistadora. The statue is a bulto a vestir, a clothed statue whose extensive
wardrobe is created and maintained by volunteer members of the congregation.
• During the Pueblo revolt the statue was rescued by the Spanish and taken to El Paso del Norte
when the Spanish fled.
• After twelve years, in 1692, Governor Don Diego De Vargas took back the city and today the
people of Santa Fe still celebrate this event, the oldest community celebration and fiesta in the
United States.