Sierra Gorda Part 14: The Misión San Miguel Concá church interior

Carole views the mission church at Concá. Previously, in Part 13, I showed and explained the fascinating details of the steeple and facade. I also described the mission's location and history. This time, we'll take a peek at some of the interesting features of the interior. The inside of the church has the restrained, even Spartan, style known as Neo-Classic while the exterior has the exuberantly florid Baroque Churrigueresque style. Remodeling of church interiors from Baroque to Neo-Classic often occurred during the late 18th and 19th centuries when architectural tastes changed. 

The apse contains the main altar. The basic structures of many Catholic churches date back to pre-Christian Roman times. Over the centuries, churches like the one in Concá were laid out to imitate the Christian cross. The apse represents the top part of the cross and is located at the far end of the nave from the entrance. This semi-circular space is the main focus of the whole church. The nave is the seating area for the congregants and forms the long part of the cross. The two arms of the transept form the crosspiece. The church dome is centered over the point where the nave and transept intersect. 

The back of the apse has an altar table which contains a reliquary, guarded by two angels on its face and stand-alone angels on either side. A statue of the church's namesake (St. Michael the Archangel) hangs above the altar table, with a crucifix placed a bit higher on the wall. Included within the apse are a speaker's podium and a bishop's chair. Flowers are changed according to seasonal fiestas. There is very little other decoration. Below, I will describe the origins and meanings of many of the church's interior features, including those in the apse, the nave, and the baptismal room.

St Michael wields his sword as he stomps on Satan. The spray of flowers at St. Michael's feet obscures Satan, who is probably represented as a snake or a dragon. As I explained in Part 13, St. Michael is considered the most important of God's angels and is the one who led the angelic army when Satan was ousted from heaven. St. Michael the Archangel was a favorite of St. Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order. St. Francis believed in St. Michael's special powers to combat evil, so images and statues of him appear at many of the Sierra Gorda's Franciscan missions.

A reliquary contains the relics of saints or other sacred objects. The goblet radiating a halo represents the chalice used at the Last Supper. It is guarded by two small angels standing in front of Neo-classic pilasters. A reliquary might contain objects such as fragments of the bones or other objects such as pieces of clothing that the saint wore or may have touched. The original purpose of collecting and protecting such relics was to preserve the memory and sense of holiness of the saint. The intent was to assist worshipers when they prayed for a saint's intersession. Veneration of the relics themselves was not the intention.

However, belief in the magical powers of relics quickly spread in the early church and has persisted among many of today's worshipers. Legends about the power of particular relics grew, and this drew pilgrims from far away who made donations. Church officials soon took notice. As a result, relics became valuable and unscrupulous people trafficked them for profit. In fact, many relics were fake and some were attributed to saints who themselves never actually existed. Sometimes people from one church stole famous relics from another to gain status and attract pilgrims and money. 

A piece of furniture known as a "bishop's chair" is often found in an apse. Its presence is a link to ancient times when chairs were seen as symbols of authority. Until the 4th century AD, Christian believers were severely persecuted. They could only worship in secret and often met in Rome's underground graveyards, called catacombs. Archeologists have found sites in the catacombs where early Christians gathered. In these spaces special seats were carved out of the the rock for the leader of the group. 

After the Emperor Constantine ended the persecution, the church hierarchy began to develop. When officiating, the first bishops sat on a cathedra (Latin for "chair"). The headquarters of a bishop thus became a cathedral. Until the late 18th century, the Franciscan mission churches in the Sierra Gorda, including this one, were not part of the diocese of Querétaro. The Franciscans were a separate religious organization with its own rules and hierarchy. Therefore, a bishop's chair would not have been present in the church at Concá until it was secularized and turned over to the authority of the Querétaro diocese in 1770.

Ceiling of the dome over the transept. It has an octagonal shape, with windows on each of its eight sides. The number eight is significant in both Christian and Jewish beliefs. According to the New Testament, Jesus entered Jerusalem in triumph on Palm Sunday. Eight days later, after his crucifixion, he rose from the dead. There are seven days in a week and the eighth day begins a new week and therefore represents a new beginning, a new order, or a new creation. In addition, there are eight beatitudes in the Sermon on the Mount, beginning with "blessed are the poor in spirit...". Many other examples can be found.

Christianity is rooted deeply in the Old Testament and Jewish culture as it existed in the 1st century AD. Eight had been an important number among Jews for centuries before Jesus' time. For example, eight is the first cubic number (2x2x2). Since both the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle and the Jerusalem Temple were of the same height, length, and width, they form a perfect cube. Eight people were saved on the Ark: Noah, his wife, their three sons, and their son's wives. Eight days after an Israelite male child was born, he was circumcised. As with Christianity, there is much more evidence of the importance of the number eight.

View toward the choir loft over the church entrance. At the bottom of the photo, you can see a small amount of decoration on the arch over the entrance foyer. However, there is an almost complete lack of decoration on the walls or ceiling of the nave. This, once again, contrasts with the wildly florid decoration of the exterior of the church. The word "nave" comes from the Latin navis, meaning "ship". The shape of a nave, with its vaulted ceiling, resembles the hull of an upturned ship. The church was seen as a ship, like Noah's ark, carrying the congregants across life's turbulent sea to the safe harbor of heaven. 

Until the 17th century Baroque era, the seating area for choirs was located between the congregants in the nave and the priests in the sanctuary (the altar area). The all-male choir sat in rows of ornate seats along either side of the nave, perpendicular to the congregant seating. However, musical developments in the Baroque period, as well as the addition of women to choirs, necessitated their placement in lofts above and behind the congregants. 

Decoration on the arch over the entrance foyer. This is one of the few decorated areas of the church's interior. Included are ears of corn, one of the sacred symbols of native people. Many pre-hispanic cultures and civilizations believed that the gods had taught humans how to grow corn. This is not surprising, given how essential corn was to the diet of the native population. Without the food surplus provided by the cultivation of corn, many of the ancient New World civilizations may never have developed.

The exquisitely decorated baptismal font. A font is a bowl containing water that rests on a pedestal and is used for baptisms. This one stands in a small room next to a painting of St. Francis. The room is located at the base of the steeple just inside the main entrance of the church. Placing the room near the entrance was intended to remind the faithful that they began as a member of the church congregation through their own baptism. This font is the one originally installed in the 18th century. It is ornately carved and decorated with colored clay. The decoration contrasts with the simplicity of the room and its other contents. 

Like the early seats for Christian leaders, baptismal fonts have also been found in the Roman catacombs. However, the origins of baptism go back even further than Christianity itself. During the Second Temple period (515 BC-70 AD), Jewish ritual practices included washing, sprinkling, bathing, and immersing with water. According to the Bible's New Testament, John the Baptist was following these ancient rituals when he baptized Jesus. As the early Christian movement grew, it developed its own specific meanings for baptism.  Fonts for use in the ritual developed from there.

A cross covered with small photos stands in one corner of the nave. The walls behind the cross are covered by stenciled designs in one of the few decorated sections of the church interior. There was no information available about the people in the photos or why their pictures are attached to the cross. 

One possibility is that they are migrants who have left for the dangerous journey across Mexico's northern border. Attaching their photos to the cross may be a way of praying for their safety. Alternatively, these may be people who have died from disease or violence and their photos may be a prayer for their safe arrival in heaven. Whatever the reason, I found this rustic little display particularly poignant.

Detail of the photos on the cross. Most of the people appear to be young, with a few of middle age. Males predominate, but there is a sizable minority of women and a handful of children. Whoever and wherever they they are, I wish them well.

This completes Part 14 of my Sierra Gorda series and also ends the series itself. I hope you have enjoyed it. If so, please leave any thoughts or questions in the Comments section below or email me directly. If you leave a question, please include your email address so that I may respond in a timely manner.

Hasta luego, Jim