Guanajuato Revisited Part 6 of 17: The Peace Plaza and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guanajuato

The Basilica looms over Plaza de la Paz. Before the Jardin Union plaza was built, this was the main plaza of Guanajuato. It is probably one of the most photographed sites in the city. This is made easier by the fact that most of the area around it is free of automobile traffic. The surrounding buildings are both historically important and architecturally beautiful, making the Plaza de la Paz particularly photogenic. I took this shot during our earlier 2008 visit. 

In this posting, I will focus on the fascinating history of both the Plaza and the Basilica and the roles they have played throughout Mexico's turbulent past. To locate Plaza de la Paz in a Google interactive map, click here. As you can see on the Google map, the triangular plaza is the convergence point of seven streets. Three of them are pedestrian-only callejones (alleys). These include Pasaje de los Arcos, Zapateros, and Cuesta de Marqués. 

Diners enjoy a meal under the red umbrellas of Restaurante La Tasca. Several local restaurants take advantage of the pedestrian-only street to set up outdoor dining. Carole and I have eaten at La Tasca several times during our visits in 2008 and 2022. The food on the mostly Mexican menu was good and reasonably priced. During the early colonial era, this was the administrative hub of the city and the various government buildings included the Real de Minas (Royal Mining District). 

In 1858, during the Reform War (1858-61), President Benito Juarez used the area that is now called the Plaza de la Paz to declare Guanajuato to be the capital of Mexico. However, only two years later Juarez won the war and the capital reverted to Mexico City. In 1865, during the French occupation of Mexico (1862-67), work began to construct the present Plaza. However, it did not get its current name until 1903. 

The Peace Statue, viewed from our table at La Tasca. The statue for which the Plaza is named was erected in 1897 by the renowned Mexican sculptor Jesus Contreras. It was made from a combination of bronze, marble, and an easily-carved volcanic stone called cantera. It is surrounded by a lush garden that conforms to the triangular shape of the Plaza. The building behind the statue was once an opulent mansion, but now houses a branch of HSBC bank. 

In 1903, Mexico's dictator Porfirio Diaz visited Guanajuato to officially inaugurate the statue and its plaza as Plaza de la Paz (the Plaza of Peace). The name commemorated the end of the Independence War in 1821. Diaz never imagined that, less than eight years later, he would flee the country as it descended into two decades of revolution and civil wars that would continue well into the 1930s. So much for peace.

Some of the Plaza's historic and architecturally significant buildings. The Congreso de Guanajuato (state legislature) occupies the building with the cupola in the background. Also located around the square are the Palacio Municipal, (city hall), the Real de Minas, and various mansions once owned by the elite of Guanajuato.

Basilica colegiata de Nuestra Señor de Guanajuato

The Basilica and Plaza de la Paza gardens. Restaurante la Tasca is out of view to the right. This photo was taken in 2008 and the body of the Basilica has since been painted another color. The left steeple is in the Baroque Churrigueresque style, while the one on the right is Neo-Classic and contains clocks on two of its sides. The rest of the exterior of the Basilica is also a mix of Baroque and Neo-Classic, a result of remodeling over the centuries.

This 17th century church dominates all the rest of the structures around the Plaza, both because of its size and its placement on a low knoll above them. The Basilica's construction began in 1671 and was completed in 1696. The 25-year span was not unusual for religious construction, since raising money for it was always an on-going effort. The main patrons were the fabulously wealthy owners of the silver mines located in the surrounding mountains. 

The clock tower and right side of the Basilica. Sometime before our 2022 visit, the church's exterior color had been re-painted to a light yellowish-tan with rust-colored accents. Wealthy patrons have always played a part in financing church construction in Mexico. However, such patronage was particularly a feature of the Baroque era of 17th and early 18th centuries. In fact, some historians feel that this diversion of resources may have negatively affected the era's economy. 

The piety of most of the patrons was probably genuine, but they also wanted to ensure themselves of salvation after death. One reason was their gross exploitation of mine workers, many of whom died from poor working conditions. These included overwork, cave-ins, and exposure to mercury and mine dust. In addition, pay levels decreased in the 18th century, impoverishing workers but greatly enhancing mining profits. The owners thus had good reasons to build these "stairways to heaven".

Neo-Classic pilasters frame a Baroque wooden door. A pilaster is a non-load-bearing column which primarily serves as a decorative feature. It is a feature often found in Neo-Classic construction. The four small faces in the upper part of the wooden door are a giveaway of its Baroque style. Two more of these odd, somewhat grotesque faces are located on the two small doors that form the lower part of the larger door.

View of the Basilica's single nave. The main altar can be seen at the far end. The decor of the interior of the church was remodeled into Neo-Classic style, probably during the late 18th and 19th centuries. The floor plan is in the form of a Latin Cross, with side chapels at either end of the cross. The main dome covers the area in front of the altar where the nave is crossed. To me, the most interesting feature of the church interior was the statue adorning the main altar area.

The statue of Nuestra Señora de Guanajuato. She is the patron of Guanajuato and is considered to be the oldest piece of Christian art in Mexico. The cedar wood statue is beautifully carved and painted. According to legend, local Christians hid it in Granada, Spain, when the Muslim Moors invaded in 711 AD and overthrew the Visigoth kingdom. If it was already in existence and revered when the Moors arrived, the statue may be considerably older than the 8th century. 

In 1492, the Reconquista (Re-Conquest) by King Fernando and Queen Isabela finally expelled the Moors. Shortly after this, they approved the first voyage of Christopher Columbus. His discoveries resulted in the conquest of Mexico and, ultimately, the shipment of huge amounts of silver to Spain. Much of this wealth ended up in the Crown coffers of Fernando and Isabela. 

Their successors, King Carlos I and his son Felipe II donated the statue to Guanajuato in 1557 in recognition of the city's success in silver mining. Originally housed in the Templo de Belén (see Part 4), the statue was later moved to the Basilica.

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The ceiling, choir loft, and pulpit are richly decorated. Many of the paintings adorning the walls of the church were the work of Miguel Mateo Maldonado y Cabrera (1695-1768). During his lifetime, he was considered the greatest artist in all of Nueva España (colonial Mexico). 

In addition to the religious work he created for the Church he painted many secular works for the colonial elite. A mestizo himself (mixed native and Spanish), some of Miguel Cabrera's finest works depict the result of intermarriage between native people, Spaniards, and Africans. 

One of the two side chapels at the ends of the nave's cross. The statue in the center is Jesus. Unidentified saints stand on either side. The eight columns that frame the statues are unadorned, except for their corinthian capitals. This and other features, such as the finials in the form of vases along the top, mark the chapel as part of the Neo-Classic remodeling.

This completes Part 6 of my Guanajuato Revisited series. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments section, please remember to include your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim 

 

Guanajato Revisited Part 5 of 17: Ex-Hacienda del Cochero's peaceful garden conceals a torture center

Carole stands at the entrance of the Museo Ex-Hacienda del Cochero. In my last posting, we looked at the Templo Belén, the last remains of a convento run by a Catholic religious Order known as the Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem or the Betlemites. They were responsible for building and running hospitals for the poor in Guanajuato and elsewhere in Mexico and Latin America. These efforts provided great benefits to the communities in which the Betlemites worked.

In this posting we will take a look at the dark side of Catholicism in Spain and Spanish colonial Mexico. In 1954, Manuel Valenzuela found implements of torture and human remains hidden in tunnels under Ex-Hacienda del Cochero (Hacienda of the Coachman). These were the remains of a secret torture center linked to the Spanish Inquisition. For a Google map showing the location of Museo Ex-Hacienda del Cochero, click here.

The Ex-Hacienda's peaceful garden

Statue of San Francisco de Assisi. San Francisco was a peaceful, acetic man who established a religious Order devoted to charity, benevolence, and selflessness. He is reputed to have loved animals and is usually shown accompanied by birds or small mammals, like the squirrel at his feet. The statue is within the lush garden just inside the entrance of the 17th century hacienda. 

The museum has a fee of $45 pesos/person ($2.47 USD) and is open from 10 AM to 7 PM, Monday to Sunday. There are guides dressed as monks who will conduct you on a short tour, but we decided to just wander through on our own.

A font for holy water hangs on the wall near the entrance. These containers are also called stoups. It appears to be of the 17th century Baroque style, although it is not clear that this was its original location. I was intrigued by the small, winged creature crouched in the conch shell above the bowl. What it represents and why it is in a holy water font is a mystery to me.

A possible sundial stands in the middle of the garden. I wasn't sure what this was at first, but finally decided it must be an old sundial. The placement of sundials in hacienda gardens and courtyards was a common practice, both as a decoration and as a practical way to tell time on a sunny day.

Hacienda del Cochero was established in 1696 in the hills to the north of Guanajuato. The founder was José de Sardaneta Legaspi y Muños del Castillo. Like many Spaniards in the 17th century, he and his family and various relatives had emigrated to Nueva España (Mexico) to seek their fortunes in the mining business. In 1715, José's wife Rosa Maria gave birth to a son, Vicente Manuel de Sardaneta y Legaspi, under whom the family's fortunes skyrocketed.

Carts like this moved ore from deep in the mines to the surface. Hacienda del Cochero was the type of operation known as a hacienda de beneficio. These were operations which refined ore into ingots, in this case silver. Most of the ingots were sent by mule train to Mexico City and then on to Spain. About a third of it went to the Far East to purchase the luxury goods brought back on the Manila Galleons. The vast amounts of silver produced in Guanajuato and other mining centers transformed Spain into a superpower. 

The Spanish Crown directly benefited both from a percentage of each ingot produced and from monopoly control over mercury, which was vital to the refinement process. Thus, success in the mining business not only made a man rich but won him great favor with Spanish kings. José's son Vicente was one of these and in 1774 he was elevated by King Carlos III to the position of 1st Marqués de San Juan de Raya. A marqués is the second highest rank of nobility, just below duke. 

A small cemetery occupies one corner of the garden. It isn't clear who is buried here, but the graveyard is described as "particular", which may indicate that these are family graves. A close examination of this gravestone reveals only three undamaged and intelligible words of Spanish: Fallecio...(Died...) and Recuerdo de... (Memory of...). The stone is decorated with an angel clutching a child to its breast and two shells with small, writhing snakes nearby.

In addition to owning mines and haciendas de beneficio, Vicente possessed agricultural and livestock haciendas which he used to provide supplies to his mining operations. To protect and enhance all this, he held various powerful positions within Guanajuato's government between 1743-87. These included city council member, ordinary mayor, and attorney general. In fact, his father and uncles had occupied similar positions, as did his sons after him, all as part of the Sardaneta family business. 

 

A pretty girl and her best friend, the mummy. This was the first sign of the bizarre world we were about to enter. This photo hung on the wall near the entry to the dungeon below the garden. A caption below the photo identified the live girl as Magdalena Moreno and the photo as taken in the Tricolor studio. The mummy's identity was not given. Given the live girl's clothing, the shot was probably taken in the mid-20th century. Apparently photos like this were popular at that time.

Vicente was also connected to the Church in important ways. His brother Joaquin was a Jesuit priest and Vicente himself held the position of mayor of the Holy Brotherhood during various periods between 1755 and 1770. He soon became a friend of Fernando de Miera, Inquisitor of the Holy Office. Blasphemers, heretics, witches, and anyone suspected of opposing Catholicism were brought before the Holy Office Tribunal for trial. In those days, such trials were preceded by torture.

Descent into a nightmare

Armor, weapons, and torture tools were set into a wall niche. We left the garden above and proceeded down a winding stone stairway. Part way down we encountered this display. A  steel breastplate decorated with a coat-of-arms and two fleur-de-lys occupies the center space. It is surrounded by a manacle dangling from a chain, a candelabra (symbolizing the Church?), a flintlock pistol, and a hand bellows used to make torture instruments red-hot.

The Inquisitor Fernando de Miera needed someplace quiet, secret, and just outside the city for convenience. Somewhere that the screams of his victims would not unduly disturb the citizenry. His friendship with Vicente Sardaneta led to the offer of the cellar under Hacienda del Cochero. It would be the perfect site for eliciting the confessions that nearly always followed de Miera's interrogation style.

At the bottom of the stairs, we encountered this cell. In it, a figure dressed in a rough robe hunches over a table lit with a single lamp. The figure's outstretched right hand shows that it is a skeleton. While various human remains were found when the cellar was excavated in 1954, few of the remains displayed today are real. However, the torture tools are original and almost certainly were used to their full potential. In the background is a brazier for heating the tools. 

One source claims the cellar was being used for torture as early as 1700. However, Vicente was born in 1715 and didn't become a friend of Fernando de Mieda until many years later, so that early date seems unlikely. Another source sets the date for the beginning of torture at 1764 and this seems to better fit the overall timescale. Apparently the site was used for these purposes for a relatively short period and this probably accounts for the fact that its secret was kept for 210 years. 

The Garrotte was used for both torture and execution. The man sitting on the chair has his hands bound behind a wooden post. He has been fitted with a collar of iron (or possibly leather) around his neck, called a garrotte. The collar is attached through the post to a lever behind it. As the lever is pulled back the collar tightens around the throat, slowly strangling the victim. Pressure can be applied or released at will by the torturer, thus prolonging the suffering or causing a quick death. 

The Inquisition was first implemented by Pope Lucius III in 1184 against the Cathars, a non-Catholic sect of Christians based in southern France. Its purpose was to enforce adherence to Catholicism and the Church found this method so useful in exerting its power that the practice lasted until 1834. In Spain, the Inquisition was first used in 1480, when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella forced the Jews to convert to Catholicism or be deported. Those who back-slid faced the Inquisitors.

A metal pot hangs over a table waiting for the next victim. The pot may have been filled with hot liquids or glowing coals meant to be spread over a naked, strapped-down body. Two more implements of torture are shown against the wall in back. The chair on the left appears to be another version of a garrotte, while the device on the right is one of the infamous "racks" often referred to in medieval torture literature.

Fernando de Aragon and Isabela de Castille had married in 1469. A decade later, they linked their kingdoms and unified Spain for the first time in 700 years. Under their leadership, the Reconquista (Re-conquest) finally captured Moorish Granada in 1492. Isabella was a religious fanatic and used the Inquisition to persecute not only Jews but the remaining Moors. Shortly after Granada, the royal pair agreed to finance a speculative voyage by an obscure Italian named Christopher Columbus. 

The Rack was a device used to pull people apart at their joints. The body is stretched along the rack, with manacles on its wrists and ankles. These are, in turn, connected to chains at the top and bottom of the rack. The top chains extend to a winch. When wound, the winch pulls the arms and legs in opposite directions and the body is ultimately disarticulated at every joint. If done gradually, the agonizing effect was considered a good way to get the Inquisitor's questions answered.

Members of the Dominican Order arrived in Nueva España in 1525, and were viewed at the time as both intellectuals and agents of the Inquisition. However, the colony's first Bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, was a Franciscan and it was he who initiated the first prosecution under the Inquisition in 1536. It was not against a Spanish heretic, but an indigenous shaman named Ocelote ("ocelot"). He had continued to practice his traditional beliefs, but these were viewed by the Spanish as devil worship.

A Head Crusher could also result in a slow and agonizing death. The head crusher used a metal cap that was fitted over the top of the victim's skull, with a strap under the chin. A winch was turned from above, gradually forcing the cap down and crushing the skull, teeth, mandible and facial bones. Bored torturers would sometimes amuse themselves by tapping on the metal cap with a hammer.

During the early years of colonization, mass evangelization was far more prevalent than the use of the inquisition method. However, both were aimed at ensuring the success of the "Spiritual Conquest", which provided the ideological underpinning of the military conquest. Fundamentally, both had the same aim: enforcing Spanish civil and religious power. As time went on, native resistance to the new religion lessened and the authorities turned their attention back to heretics.  

The Breaking Wheel was widely used for centuries. The first reported use of the Breaking Wheel was in the 6th century and its last victim was in 1841. The victim would be strapped to a large wheel, sometimes taken from a wagon. As the wheel was turned, he would be savagely beaten with clubs on the arms and legs until all were thoroughly broken. While this ultimately caused death, the process was very slow and sometimes the person survived for 3 or 4 days before expiring.

The context of the Spanish Inquisition is important. Martin Luther launched the Protestant Reformation in 1517, only two years before Cortéz invaded the Aztec Empire. The rise of Protestantism led to the Catholic Counter-Reformation of 1545. Torture and executions for adhering to the wrong side were widespread on both sides during the following two centuries. The 17th century Spaniards were recognized at the time as particularly avid and creative in these practices.

A skeleton of a prisoner was left chained to the wall in this cell. Probably this represents someone who was tortured until he confessed, then sentenced to death by the Holy Tribunal, and finally left to die in his cell. A modern person might ask, how could human beings do these things to one another? Were people so different several hundred years ago? 

We have only to remember the 21st century torture centers run by the C.I.A. to understand that ordinary people will commit the most heinous acts against helpless victims when they perceive they are doing it under "proper authority". In fact, the C.I.A. used similar, and sometimes identical, torture methods as the Spanish Inquisitors. These included waterboarding, stress positions, and savage beatings. The only difference was that the C.I.A usually didn't kill their victims. 

The guillotine above was meant for execution, not torture. The hole in the block was for the victim's neck. The top half of the block would be raised so that the head of the reclining person could fit through. The top was then dropped down to pin the person in place. The angled blade was pulled to the top of the slide and, at a signal, was dropped. The heavy blade neatly sliced the neck and dropped the head into a basket between the legs of the device. 

The guillotine had been invented as a more humane method of execution than the Breaking Wheel, which it replaced. The new device did bring almost instant death, but it also enabled many rapid executions in a row, such as occurred during the Reign of Terror of the French Revolution. The revolutionaries viewed the guillotine favorably, not because of its "humanity" but because it eliminated social distinctions in how people were executed. King or peasant, your head ended up in the same basket.

The mummy in the coffin may be part of the original remains. It appears to be a real mummy, but there was no sign indicating whether this is true. If it is real, it is also not clear whether the mummy was part of the human remains found when the cellar was excavated in the 1950s.

So, was Vicente Manuel de Sardaneta y Legaspi, 1st Marqués de San Juan de Raya, directly involved in the torture activities conducted in the cellar of his hacienda? Certainly, he would have known about it. However it is most likely that he was an occasional spectator rather than a hands-on participant. Any questioning of the victims would have been conducted by the Inquisitor, Fernando de Miera. The pain of the victims would have been inflicted by specialists.

We finally exited the dark cellar into the sunlit cobblestone street. After walking through all those horrific exhibits, I wondered at the advertisements for this museum that encouraged families to visit. I can hardly imagine how parents might explain to their small, bug-eyed children exactly what was going on in those cells.

This completes Part 5 of my Guanajuato Revisited series. If you have any thoughts or questions, please leave them in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question in the Comments, please remember to leave your email address so that I can respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim

 

Guanajuato Revisited Part 4 of 17: Templo de Belén and the Betlemite Order

San Miguel, the warrior Archangel, wields his flaming sword. San Miguel is often portrayed wearing armor and wielding a flaming sword against a snake/dragon symbolizing Satan. The statue stands on the left side of the main altar of the Templo de Belén (Temple of Bethlehem). The church is all that remains of a monastic complex built in the early 18th century.  

In Part 4 of my Guanajuato Revisited series, I will show the church and explain who founded the Betlemite Order and why they were important to colonial Mexico. The Templo also carries the name Parroquia de la Corazon Inmaculada (Immaculate Heart Parish). A parroquia designation refers to a stable community of faithful with its own priest, rather than a physical building. Such a community has geographical boundaries and is part of a larger diocese organization.

Exterior of the Templo

The Templo has a single tower and a Churrigueresque facade. The facade resembles an altar retablo, with niches containing five statues. The church is located between Calle Mendizábal and Callejon Cañitos, directly across from the Mercado Hidalgo (see Part 3) on Avenida Benito Juarez. A sign on the church wall states that the monastery complex was founded in 1717. However, other authoritative sources say it was established a decade later in 1727. 

San Antonio de Padua is one of the five statues on the facade. San Antonio (1195-1231) is often displayed holding Jesus as a child, symbolizing Jesus' vulnerable love. Antonio was a Portuguese priest and a friar of the Franciscan Order. He was known for his powerful preaching, knowledge of scripture, and devotion  to the poor and sick. Among other attributes, San Antonio de Padua is the patron of people looking for lost articles. He was canonized less than year after his death, a record never equaled.

Santo Domingo de Guzman stands on the other side of the entrance. Santo Domingo (1170-1221). was a contemporary of San Antonio de Padua, but it is unclear whether they ever met. He was the founder of the Dominicans, also known as the Order of Preachers. Highly educated from an early age, he decided to become a missionary among the Cathars, an heretical offshoot of Catholicism. His work attracted many followers and resulted in the founding of the Dominican Order.

The old wooden door shows flowery Baroque carvings. The Betlemite monastic complex once included a hospital, hospice, cemetery, school, gardens and a cloister (area for living and work). After its founding in the early 18th century, work went slowly on the Templo because the Betltemites were focused on their hospital. The complex was finally finished in 1775 when a wealthy silver mine owner threw his financial support behind it. 

The Nave 

The church has a Latin Cross floor plan with a single nave. The interior style is Neo-Gothic, which became popular from the 1840s through the early 20th century. Sometime during this period the Churrigueresque elements of the Templo's interior were replaced by Neo-Gothic, although most of the exterior facade was left in the original style.

The Convento de Belén was founded by members of the Orden de los Hermanos de Nuestra Señora de Bethlehem (Order of the Brothers of Our Lady of Bethlehem) or Betlemitas for short. Their religious Order was founded in Guatemala in 1658. From there a delegation traveled to Guanajuato in the early 18th century to create a new convento/hospital in the booming silver town. José de la Cruz designed the complex, but the Betlemites did much of the work themselves.

In 1727, the site chosen for the Convento de Belén was part of the Hacienda de Cervera, a silver refining operation. It was owned by a noblewoman named Doña Isabel Hertado de Mendoza, the Mariscala de Castilla. Work on the Templo dragged on for decades until 1775. Then, Don Antonio de Obregón y Alcocer, the Conde de Valenciana stepped in and used his vast silver mining fortune to complete the work.

Interior of the dome covering the transept. A transept is found in a cruciform (Latin cross) architectural design. It is the area in front of the altar where the main nave intersects with the spaces created by left and right side chapels. Domes like this are usually supported by four arches, in the corners of which are paintings of various important figures, typically saints.

Unfortunately for the Betlemites, they located their Convento along the same arroyo as the Franciscan Convento de San Diego (see Part 2). In 1780, only five years after completion of the Templo, hospital and most of the Betlemite complex, the same great flood that destroyed the Franciscan monastery inundated Convento Belén. When the level of the city streets were raised, the Templo was left partially underground in a semi-ruined state for a number of years. 

The Conde de Valenciana began to fund reconstruction, but he died in 1786. His widow continued to pay for the work, including plans drawn up in 1788 by the architect Francisco de Bruno. He was famed for his work on the Templo de San Cayetan Confesor, near the Valenciana silver mine. However, internal conflicts among the  Betlemites ultimately caused the widow to end her support. Lack of funds and the start of the Independence War finally brought the end to the Convento. 

Along the right wall of the nave are the pulpit and a retablo. Both are richly decorated with paintings and the niches of the retable also contain statues. 

In 1810, the last religious ceremony at the Templo was conducted by the Betlemites. By 1813, the semi-ruined church had become a permanent water reservoir. The last Prelate to oversee Guanajuato's Betlemites was Fr. Vicente de San Simón, who died in 1825. At that point the State Congress took over the hospital. In 1827, the School of Architecture was established at the Universidad de Guanajuato. The site chosen was the old hospital, to the right of Templo Belén.

In the mid-19th century, Guanajuato's Catholic Diocese repaired and remodeled Templo Belén and it became the home of the Parroquia de la Corazon Inmaculada. It was during this architectural process that the Templo's interior gained its Neo-Gothic style. 

The Altar area

The main altar overlooks the transept. The retablo behind the altar contains multiple statues, including one of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart, for whom the Parroquia is named. Below her on the left is the Archangel San Miguel, seen in the first photo of this posting. To the right is Archangel San Rafael. Between the Archangels is a Christmas creche scene. 

The Betlemite Order had a rather odd beginning as these things go. It grew out of a peculiar mix of other Orders, who were often rivals. Pedro de San José Bentacur was born in the Canary Islands and, from an early age, he wanted to follow a religious life. Accordingly, he left home in 1650 for Antigua, Guatemala, then capital of that Spanish colony. Pedro intended to prepare for the priesthood at a Jesuit college so he could evangelize in Japan, but was unsuccessful in his studies. 

Archangel San Rafael with Tobias, the fish and the boy's dog.  The story is that Tobias was sent by his blind father to retrieve money from a relative. San Rafael went along in disguise to protect the boy. While crossing a river, Tobias was attacked by a big fish, but the Archangel saved him. San Rafael told him to keep the fish to make medicines from its organs. Tobias did so and later used a portion to cure his father's blindness.

After failing to become a Jesuit priest, Pedro took a position as sacristan, preparing and overseeing the clothing and other articles used by priests during the Liturgy. On his own time, he began teaching poor children to read and doing other charity work. In the process, he discovered the desperate health needs of the poor in his area and began taking care of them in his own home. Pedro soon turned his home into a hospital, thus beginning his life's work.

Nuestra Señora de la Corazon Inmaculada. It took a bit to figure out which version of Mary this statue represented. At first I thought it might be Our Lady of Bethlehem, but she always carries the Baby Jesus in her arms and he is absent here. Then, because of the sunburst behind her and her clothing, I thought perhaps it might be the Virgin of Guadalupe, but her posture was wrong. Finally, I Googled up an image of Our Lady of the Immaculate Heart and everything fit.

Pedro's efforts to build and operate a hospital attracted the attention of wealthy benefactors and officials like the bishop and governor. They provided him with everything the hospital needed, including the purchase of neighboring houses for expansion. The diocese placed the hospital under the patronage of Our Lady of Bethlehem. Helpers at the hospital eventually turned into an informal congregation who became known as Betlemites because of their hospital's patron.

Below the creche scene is a shrouded glass case and a reliquary. I am not clear who is in the glass case or why it is shrouded. A reliquary is a container, usually gold, which holds sacred relics such as the bones of saints. It is a common belief among the faithful that praying to the relics can cure illness or help solve other problems.

After first attempting to became a Jesuit priest, Pedro had become a Franciscan, and continued to wear the habit of its Third Order even after starting his own community. In actuality, he was far more interested in his hospital than in transforming his community into a new Order. That task fell to others. Exhausted by his work, Pedro died in 1667 at the relatively young age of 48. After a huge funeral in Antigua, he was buried at the church of the Capuchin Friars, still another religious Order to which he was loosely connected.

Left and right side chapels 

Retablo and altar at the end of the left transept. Several of the faithful have gathered to pray at an altar, backed by a retablo with a statue of Jesus at its center. The statue is flanked by paintings of two unidentified saints.

Following Pedro's death, Fr. Antonio de la Cruz assumed leadership of the community. One of his first acts was to draw up an official constitution and get it approved by the bishop. When Fr. Antonio was approached by the Capuchins to make changes in the Franciscan habit (robe) used by Pedro and his community to be more in accord with their Order, he agreed. He also took a major step toward expansion by sending two Betlemites to Peru to start a new convent/hospital.

In 1672, this expansion beyond Guatemala was approved by the King of Spain and Pope Clement X. After that, Betlemite convent/hospitals began to pop up all over Latin America. In 1727, they reached Guanajuato. The Betlemite brothers were still not an independent Order, just a group of communities under the prelate of the local diocese where their hospitals were located. By this point, they recognized a need for their own Order, but faced bureaucratic opposition. 

The Virgen de Guadalupe is centered in the right-hand retablo. There is no mistaking which version of the Virgin this is. While there is often much variation in how Mary is portrayed in paintings and statues, the image of the Virgen de Guadalupe almost always wears the same clothing, stands in the same posture, and is surrounded by the same symbols, no matter where I encounter her. Her imagery contains not only Catholic, but pre-hispanic religious meanings.

The new Betlemite leader, Fr. Rodrigo de la Cruz, eventually overcame all roadblocks. Pope Innocent XI finally approved their new Order, giving them the same privileges as Augustinian friars. So, their original leader Pedro started studying to be a Jesuit, but later became a Franciscan. He was buried at a Capuchin church and his community adopted some of their customs. Then, when they finally became an official Order, it was with the Augustinians. The one consistent factor was always the Betlemites' devotion to their hospitals.

The Betlemite Order came to an end in 1820, when monastic communities in Spain and throughout the European empires were suppressed. Governments had come to envy the wealth that the Orders had accumulated over the centuries. Donations, the wills of wealthy individuals, and loans made by the various Orders to merchants, owners of mines and hacienda owners made them so wealthy they often acted as banks. In actuality, suppressions had started much earlier than 1820.

In 1539, Henry VIII of England had suppressed and seized monastery lands. In 1767, the Spanish Kings had thrown the Jesuits out of all Spanish possessions. The French had confiscated Church properties after the Revolution of 1789. By 1820, monastic suppressions had spread throughout Europe. The Betlemites were restored as an Order by Papal action in 1984 and a small group of them still keep a house in the Canary Islands. San Pedro de San José Bentacur finally attained sainthood from Pope John Paul II in 2002.

This concludes Part 4 of my Guanajuato Revisited series. I hope you enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. Please remember to include your email address if you leave a question in the Comments section so that I can respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim