Valladolid Adventures Part 15: Convento de San Bernardino de Siena - The Cloister and Refectory

 

View of the Convento's bell tower from a courtyard window of the cloister. This cloister is a square, two-story structure with a central courtyard. It adjoins the north side of the church and has open-air arcades along all four sides of each level. Within a cloister are the parts of a convento where the friars meditated, studied, and exercised. In addition, there are individual "cells" where the friars slept and prayed. Another feature is the refectory, where they dined and met together.

In this posting, I'll show you the cloister at Convento San Bernardino de Siena and explain its various functions. I'll also talk about how the Franciscans viewed themselves and their work and the complex relationship they had with the Maya they came to evangelize. I'll include some quotes from the letters and reports of Franciscan friars during the centuries that they worked in Yucatan. This will be my last posting in the Convento sub-series within my overall Valladolid Adventures series. The sub-series begins with Part 9. 

Refectory and Hallways

The dining area of the refectory could also be used for meetings. There are ruins of a kitchen to the northeast of the cloister that appears to have been connected to the refectory at one time. However, all that is left of the kitchen is an old limestone wall with an arched doorway (see Part 11). The friars' diet included fruits and vegetables from their orchard behind the Convento. The cenote, which provided water for the Convento and its orchard, was also full of tasty bagre (catfish). Cattle provided beef for the refectory table, as well as income from their sale. All in all, the friars seem to have eaten pretty well.

The earliest Franciscans in Nueva España (colonial Mexico) were the famous Twelve Apostles of Mexico. They arrived in 1524, shortly after the Aztec defeat. However, the Franciscans didn't get to Yucatan until 1535, at a time when the Maya were still fiercely resisting Spanish incursions. The conquistador Francisco Montejo el Sobrino founded the city of Valladolid in 1545, on the site of the old Maya city of Zaci. Soon, Franciscan friars began to evangelize in the area. They founded Convento de San Bernardino de Siena in 1552 near the adjacent village of Ziis-Há and the cenote which bears the same name.

One of the cloister's ground floor corridors While the church has some sumptuous Baroque decorations, the cloister is more in tune with the Franciscan ideals of poverty and simplicity. The limited decorations include the statue in the corner and the simple cross in the niche next to it. Otherwise, the walls are bare. 

The Franciscan vision was to create a utopian society among the native people, based on Christian ideals. This involved establishing communities under the friars' direction, with Catholic rituals strictly enforced. Native religious beliefs, which the Franciscans viewed as "devil worship", would need to be eradicated. The Maya would be congregated in large villages and organized to farm in the European fashion. Initially, the Franciscans believed all this could be accomplished through gentle persuasion and personal example. However many of the Maya were not interested in all these changes and resisted from the start.

Statue of Jesus, or possibly one of the saints. I initially identified this as a statue of Jesus. After reviewing a number of images of various bearded Catholic saints holding staffs topped with crosses and clutching books with their other hand, I am not so sure. There was no sign identifying the figure, nor could I find any photo or information about it in my reference materials. My friend Richard Perry, who is an expert on colonial religious topics, suggests the statue could be Jesus, the Archangel Raphael or possibly John the Baptist. But, he is also not sure.

The Franciscans' utopian plan sought to transform a complex Maya culture that had existed for thousands of years. A particular problem was the native religion, which permeated every aspect of their lives. The Maya were very reluctant to discard these beliefs for an alien system imposed by foreigners. In addition, many of the friars had little respect for the Maya as adults, capable of rational thought. Instead, they viewed them as unsophisticated children needing control and direction. Consequently, punishment would sometimes be required to keep the Maya on the strict path necessary to achieve the Franciscan utopia.

A 19th century treadle sewing machine is another hallway decoration. Its place in the Convento's history is unclear to me. Treadle sewing machines like this were patented by Isaac Merritt Singer in 1851. Since the Franciscans turned over their Convento to the secular clergy in 1755, this treadle machine couldn't have belonged to them. It might have been imported in the 19th century by the secular priests who took over the complex. It might also be a random addition to the displays by someone who thought an old item like this belonged in the Convento's historical collection.

The Franciscans strictly enforced compulsory attendance to mass. The Maya under their control were required to assemble in a public area before mass so that they could be counted and their names checked off of lists. Tardiness could result in a blow from a stick wielded by one of the native religious police recruited by the friars. Anyone who missed mass entirely needed to provide an acceptable excuse, such as illness. People who were unable to provide such an excuse were whipped. If the person had a history of such absences, the whipping could be severe and prolonged.*

*Historia de Yucatan, by Fr. Diego Lopez de Cogolludo, published in 1688

The Cloister

The cloister's courtyard, viewed through one of the arched portales. The cloister is an enclosed world, with limited entrances. The whole atmosphere is inward looking. This was intended to create a private space for the friars where they could write, study, meditate, and teach the Order's novices. It was deliberately set up to separate the friars from the distractions of the outside world. In addition to the inward focus, the stark simplicity of the construction and decor were an expression of the Franciscan ideals.

Despite mandatory participation in Catholic religious rites, many Maya continued to covertly worship the old gods. When they were discovered, sometimes through snitching by neighbors, they were often punished severely.  Diego de Landa, a Franciscan bishop, was infamously zealous in his efforts to stop "idolatry". He ordered ancient statues to be smashed and temples and pyramids dismantled. In an attempt to erase any memory by the Maya of their traditional religion, the bishop ordered the collection and public burning of ancient hieroglyphic manuscripts. This was a deliberate act of cultural genocide.

Looking up from the courtyard to the second story arcade. Standing in the courtyard, I was a bit overwhelmed with the massiveness of the structure surrounding me. The walls are sheer and thick and almost devoid of decoration. It is no coincidence that monastic structures like this sometimes became prisons. The friars live in what they literally called cells. The addition of locked doors and barred windows could easily transform a religious institution into a prison. In fact, ecclesiastical prisons were created as early as the third century AD.

In 1567, prominent Maya leaders wrote King Phillip II about even worse abuses than document destruction. Their letter states that "we see ourselves maimed by cruel tortures, with many dead, and robbed of our property." Those who practiced the old religion were chained up in monastic prisons. Others were given as slaves to Spaniards. The remains of baptized Maya who were posthumously accused of idolatry were disinterred from church cemeteries and their bones scattered in the woods. In their letter, the Maya leaders declared "may Diego de Landa and his companions suffer the penance for the evils they have done to us." In 1577, the King finally rebuked the Franciscan bishop and reined in his abuses. 

A stone stairway leads up to the cloister's second story. The metal gates and railings are modern additions, but the stone stairs are original. As my steps echoed on them, I thought of the centuries of echoing footsteps by the friars as they mounted the staircase and moved about within their cloister.

Another Franciscan strategy that resulted in considerable Maya resentment was called congregación. When the Spanish arrived, most Maya lived in small, dispersed hamlets. Establishing and exercising control meant forcing them to move to larger villages. This served both religious and civil purposes. A large enough village could provide the labor and resources to support a church and its clerics. The largest villages could become sites for conventos like San Bernardino de Siena. Congregación also enabled civil authorities to more easily collect tribute, recruit forced labor, and to otherwise maintain control.

Second story arcade. Except for a a hanging lamp and single line of stenciled flowers painted along the wall everything else is starkly simple. Doorways along the inner side of the arcade lead into rooms that served as the friars' personal living spaces, meditation areas, classrooms for novices, and storage and administrative areas.

The process of congregación was not always an easy one. After it began in Yucatan in the 1530s, one friar wrote that "these people love their huts, cling to their habits, love their mother mountain, the ravine of their childhood, and it is extremely difficult to remove them from that place". He noted that, while "some said yes, others could not make up their mind whether they liked the idea or not." Others said yes, "but never had it in their minds that they would move and were strongly determined not ot leave their old house." Still others "frankly said that they did not wish to move and abandon the houses in which they were born".

Stenciled decorations on the wall of the second story arcade. The work of congregación had to be redone again and again. When the new villages were constructed and the Maya, willing or not, were moved there from their ancestral homes, the friars would leave to work on their next village project. However, a friar reported that "once the Father had gone, the inhabitants returned to the woods, and they had to be gathered up again." When they were re-installed in their new homes, "the old ones were demolished and the places of their old beliefs destroyed." The friar lamented the effort it took "to make them understand that all of this was done for their own good and without any other consideration."

The treatment of the Maya as children; the destruction of their religious objects and sites; the burning of their sacred texts; the forced acceptance of a foreign religion; the demand that they vacate their ancestral homes and move to new and unfamiliar villages; the brutal punishments for those who resisted; all these led to a deep hatred of Spaniards in general and the friars in particular. It resulted in periodic violent revolts, including one in 1546, only a year after Valladolid was founded. An example of Maya hatred occurred during that uprising, when a pair of friars were first crucified and then shot full of arrows.

View down into the cloister courtyard from the second story. The Franciscans, at least most of them, were truly dedicated to their utopian ideals. Those ideals differed from the motivation of other Spaniards. The civil authorities and ordinary Spaniards simply wanted to maintain political domination and to exploit the Maya for the maximum gain. In contrast, the Franciscans were prepared to treat the Maya with the kindness of a parent toward a child who is willing to submit to the parent's strict rules. There were even occasions when the friars stepped in to protect their native parishioners from abuse by greedy Spaniards. 

Fundamentally, however, the Franciscan utopia was just another aspect of what has been called the "Spiritual Conquest". It was well understood in colonial times that the evangelical Orders were expected to act in concert with the civil and military authorities in order to pacify and control the native people. The Spanish knew that they couldn't maintain control simply with the sword. The Maya needed to be persuaded that their subjugation was the will of God. Franciscan utopianism was the velvet glove which concealed the iron fist.

This completes Part 15 of my Valladolid Adventures series. It is also my last posting on the great Convento de San Bernardino de Siena. My next few postings will explore other aspects of Valladolid and eastern Yucatan. I hope you have enjoyed this one. 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 can respond promptly.

Hasta luego, Jim

Valladolid Adventures Part 14: The Magnificent Retablos in the church at Convento de San Bernardino de Siena

 

The apse at the eastern end of the church's nave contains a magnificent altarpiece. The floor-to-ceiling structure, called the retablo mayor, has three columns of niches containing a total of nine sacred figures. Additionally, there are separate retablos on the apse's side walls, as well as on the walls further back in the nave. The retablo mayor was created in the 17th century and was described in a report in 1639 by Bachiller Francisco Cárdenas Valencia.

This posting will contain photos of the various retablos and will also provide some background on the figures and scenes depicted, including why they were important to the Franciscans. For all of my postings on Convento de San Bernardino de Siena, see Parts 9-15 of my Valladolid Adventures series.

Center Column

San Bernardino de Siena, the Convento's patron saint. This statue is located at the bottom of the center column of niches. San Bernardino de Siena is known as the "Second Founder" of the Franciscan Order. For more on this important figure of Franciscan history, see Part 13. His niche is framed by two highly-decorated estipite pilasters (non-load-bearing columns), a feature of the Mexican Baroque style. The statue was mentioned in a report by Fraile Diego de Landa in 1556, barely four years after the Convento was founded in 1552.

A nearby sign states that the statue "is located in its original site in the main temple, the same one it has had since the founding of the monastery". The retablo we see today was crafted in the 17th century, 50 or more years after Fraile de Landa's report. Therefore, this statue probably occupied a niche in a main altar retablo that pre-dates the retablo mayor described in Bachiller Valencia's 1639 report. 

Articulated statue of Christ, located in the middle of the center column of the retablo.  The ankles, knees, shoulders, elbows, and wrists are all moveable. The intent is to create a life-like depiction of the crucifixion. This figure was created around the mid-17th century, about a hundred years after the San Bernardino statue was first described by Fraile de Landa. 

Articulated figures are common among artifacts created by pre-hispanic artisans. My friend Richard Perry, an expert on colonial Mexico, tells me that they were also common during Europe's Middle Ages, prior to the Conquest. However, like me, he has found few examples from Mexico's post-Conquest colonial period. The articulated statue above is the only one I have encountered in my 18 years of visiting colonial churches in Mexico. The only other articulated statues I have found were made in the 19th century. If anyone has an explanation for this mysterious historical gap, please leave a comment.

 A Statue of the Virgen de Guadalupe is at the top of the center column. The Virgin of Guadalupe is the patron of Mexico and its poor and indigenous people. She is also a patriotic symbol. Her image appeared on the banners of insurgents fighting for independence from Spain (1810-1821) and during the Mexican Revolution (1910-1917). The Virgen de Guadalupe is nearly always portrayed standing on a crescent moon, which is supported by a small cupid figure. Her body is always turned slightly to the right and entirely surrounded by flames, which represent a halo. She wears a cloak covered with stars.

Her image has several elements with both Catholic and pre-hispanic meanings, including the halo, the crescent moon, and the stars on her clothing. Because of this, and because she first appeared to an indigenous man as a dark-skinned, Nahuatl-speaking woman, she had great appeal to the native people. However, the Franciscans were deeply suspicous. They believed that her cult was a covert way to practice the old religion and resisted recognizing her legitimacy for a century. Given that early controversy, her statue was probably not displayed in the church prior to the mid-17th century. 

Left Column

San Isidro Labrador is displayed at the bottom left. St. Isidore the Farmworker was 

a humble day laborer on the farm of a rich landowner outside Madrid, Spain. According to a codex written a few years after he died, Isidro was born in 1079 and died in1172. I am a bit dubious of these dates because achieving the age of 93 in the Middle Ages would have been astonishing, particularly for an ordinary laborer. He was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. The statue above is in the style of sacred art that was popular in the mid-18th century.

Franciscans admire San Isidro Labrador because of his humble status, simple life, and dedication to his work and faith. All these qualities are central to the Franciscan code of behavior. Isidro's job involved plowing the fields but, because of his frequent absences, his fellow workers complained to Juan de Vergas, the landlord. According to the legend, the landlord found Isidro praying by a field, while angels did the plowing for him.  Given these circumstances, Juan de Vergas left him in peace. Isidro was venerated beginning in the 12th century, although he didn't gain sainthood until 400 years later. 

Christ at the Column occupies the niche above San Isidro. In this statue, Jesus embraces the column where he was beaten with whips prior to his crucifixion. San Pedro (the Apostle Peter) kneels before him. Also present, but not visible here, is a rooster. According to the legend of the crucifixion, Jesus had predicted that Peter would deny him three times before the rooster crowed. The image symbolizes penitence and forgiveness.

Created in the 17th century, the statue was first mentioned in an inventory conducted in 1755.  In that year, the Franciscans turned over the Convento to the secular clergy of the local diocese. This "secularization" process happened repeatedly to Franciscan conventos in the Spanish Empire. This was part of the Bourbon Dynasty reforms enacted during the 18th century. The secularlizations were intended to weaken the power of the monastic orders and to make them more accountable to the Crown. 

Santa Teresa de Jesus stands in the upper left, above Christ at the Column. St. Teresa of Jesus is also known as Santa Terese de Avila, the place where she was born in 1515. She was a mystic and religious reformer who was a central figure during the Spanish Counter-Reformation. Her grandfather had been a Jew who was forced to convert and barely escaped the clutches of the Spanish Inquisition. Her father successfully assimilated into Christian society and became wealthy as a wool merchant. He raised Teresa as a pious Catholic and she entered the the Carmelite Order in 1534 at age 20.

Santa Teresa de Jesus was renowned for her spiritual experiences and visions. She came to feel that the Carmelite Order was too lax and vowed to found a reformed version of the Order. In this, she was advised and supported by a Franciscan named Pedro de Alcantara. During her work on this, Teresa had to overcome fierce resistance, much of it from her original Order. However, she eventually founded conventos all over Spain for both women and men. Teresa de Jesus died in 1582 and was canonized in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV. Her statue is considered relatively modern, since it dates to the late 19th or early 20th century.

Right Column

The niche containing San Juan Bautista is at the bottom of the right column. The wooden statue was carved in the style used in 18th century sacred art.  St. John the Baptist was a Jewish reformer and preacher who baptised Jesus. Although he was never a disciple of Jesus, San Juan Bautista is considered a precursor of Jesus. He is revered by the Franciscans because he lived in poverty and simplicity and believed in the importance of repentance. Also revering him are the Eastern Orothodox Christians, the Baha'i and Druze faiths, and the Muslims. 

John the Baptist may have been an actual historical figure. He was mentioned by the Jewish historian Josephus only a few decades after John's baptism of Jesus. In his book, "Jewish Antiquities",  Josephus describes John as a virtuous and righteous man who called the Jews to repentance and baptism. He states that John's execution by the local ruler Herod Antipas was due to Herod's fear that John's influence with the people might lead to a rebellion. Josephus never mentions the biblical story that Herod's wife demanded that John's head be brought to her on a platter because of his denunciation of her marriage to Herod.

San Martin de Porres stands in the niche directly above San Juan Bautista. The statue was originally located in the Capilla de la Tercera Orden (Third Order Chapel - see Part 13). In 2002, it was moved to its present location in the retablo mayor. Martin de Porres was born in Lima, Peru, in 1579 and died there in 1639. He was the illegitimate son of a Spanish nobleman and a woman who was a freed African slave. This background limited Martin's prospects due to colonial Peru's strict racial laws. He tried to join the Dominican Order, but was only allowed to be a "donado" (volunteer) for menial tasks like sweeping.

Martin de Porres eventually became a full member of the Dominicans, but suffered from considerable prejudice from others in his Order because of his mixed-race background. He was eventually recognized for his humility, piety, and work with the the poor and sick.  Sometimes, he put them in the bed in his own room. He was associated with several miracles, including the ability to pass through locked doors. His devotion to simplicity and service to others is the reason why the Franciscans honored him here with a statue. The statue holds a broom to symbolize Martin de Porres's devotion to simple work.

Other Retablos in the Nave

The Retablo de San Antonio is on the right wall of the nave. It is positioned about half way between the apse and the entrance to the hall leading to the Capilla de la Tercera Orden. The wooden retablo and its statue of San Antonio holding the infant Jesus and a palm frond were carved during the first half of the 17th century. The retablo and its statue are an extraordinary example of Mexican Baroque. It has four spiraling Solomonic columns typical of that style. The spirals are represented as vines with fruit hanging off them. Nearly every inch of the retablo is covered with sacred scenes and other decorations.

San Antonio de Padua (1195-1231) was a contemporary of San Francisco de Asis (1181-1226), the Franciscan Order's founder. Antonio was known for his teaching skills and was assigned by Francisco to guide the studies of young members of the Order. He also taught at several Italian universities. However, preaching was his great gift. When he visited the court of Pope Gregory IX in 1228, the Pope was so impressed that he commissioned Anthony to produce a collection of his sermons. Gregory called Antonio the "Ark of the Testament". He died in 1231 and was canonized by Pope Gregory only a year later, in 1232. 

Detail from the Retablo de San Antonio. The panel, which is located above the statue, shows the "Miracle of the Resuscitation". The figures in the carved wooden panel all wear clothing typical of the 17th century. San Antonio is the haloed figure in the center, cradling the child while the mother and other figures look on.

The story behind the miracle is that a child named Tomas was found drowned in a bathtub by his mother. She immediately sought out Antonio for help, promising that she would make a donation of bread to the poor, in the amount of the weight of her child, if the saint would resuscitate him. Antonio succeeded and the mother kept her promise. It strikes me that this seems like a rather small price to pay for the act. But, maybe bread was expensive and she was poor, although she does wear rather sumptuous clothing in the carving.

The Retablo del Divino Redentor is located on the right side of the apse.  The Retablo of the Devine Redeemer is another fine example of 17th century Mexican Baroque. The four columns are highly decorated at their bases and capitals but are without Solomonic spirals. The top of the retablo has several carved panels showing the "Coronation of the Virgin Mary" as the Queen of Heaven. A statue of Jesus is in the niche, clothed only in an undergarment over his midsection. He raises his right hand in blessing and, in his left, he holds a staff topped by a small cross.

This completes Part 14 of my series on our Valladolid Adventures. 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, please include your email address so that I can respond in a timely fashion.

Hasta luego, Jim