Spanish Nativity

Folgoso de la Ribera

Yes, I know you've never heard of it. It's in Spain, but probably most Spaniards have never heard of it, either.

Folgoso de la Ribera is a town in Leon, in the area known as "El Bierzo," which is an area on the northwestern edge of the province of Leon, bordering on Galicia. Ponferrada, where I spent a memorable few weeks last summer at the albergue on the Camino de Santiago, is the capital of El Bierzo.  People who live there are called bercianos. The area has a distinctive culinary style and is famed for its great beans, produce and sausage.

A Spanish friend sent me this wonderful site dedicated to the belen of Folgoso de la Ribera. Started in 1964 by the parish priest, D. Arturo Cabo Carrasco, and the town's teacher, Dª. Loren Collado,  it was a very early animated Nativity scene.  It is what is called a "belen tradicional," that is, a Nativity scene that features local life, but also has the traditional  Nativity scenes, adapted to the locale.

It began with a river with real water. In 1969, one of its great features was a scissors grinder whose grinding wheel threw off sparks...and while that may not seem like much to kids now, back in those days, it was pretty exciting.  In fact, most kids now probably do not know that in the sixties, people were still sharpening scissors...

Gradually, different parish priests and others added more figures and scenes.  More than 40 years later, it takes up 120 square meters. So here it is! There are lots more photos and they have a video.Go to the website (hint: turn off your speakers unless you really, really love "Santa Claus is Coming to Town"). 

San Carlos – The Smallest Cathedral and Sort of a Mission

 

When Fr. Junipero Serra founded what is now Mission Carmel (formally known as Misión San Carlos Borromeo del Rio Carmelo), he actually founded it about 15 miles north in the town of Monterrey, the site of the Presidio that was responsible for all of Alta California.

For various reasons, Fr. Serra moved the mission and the mission Indians a few miles down the coast to the Rio Carmelo, but the building was left and was used as the Presidio chapel; it is still sometimes referred to as the Royal Presidio Chapel. It is the only surviving original Presidio building.

Unlike many of the other mission buildings, it was kept in use as a church throughout its existence. Built in 1794 and originally dedicated to St Joseph as well as San Carlos, it was a typical neo-Classical church, long and narrow, with a columned façade and friezes across the front under the curved espadaña. It was made larger and a small transept was added in the 19^th century.  I think the facade looks a lot like the facade of our present cathedral in St Augustine, also an 18th century Spanish design.

While it remained in use, however, it did deteriorate over the years (not to mention the impact of a few earthquakes). Finally, in 2000 restoration began, and in 2005, a serious fundraising effort was started that eventually resulted in its complete restoration in 2008.  You can go to the San Carlos website to see interesting videos of the work.

 

The restoration is beautifully done and the effect is splendid. It is obvious that both the bishop and the people love their cathedral.  During the course of the structural repair work, the original interior decorative painting was discovered. Some of it was reproduced or used as the inspiration for the new interior, but some of the original was also left visible through little glassed-in openings in the wall.

 

The church contains a particularly striking set of Stations, but unfortunately I was unable to find out anything about them, except that they were recently restored. Like most of the Stations in the missions, they are probably 18^th century Mexican work, and I assume that many of them are the original Stations with which the church was provided.  I couldn’t find anything Nativity related, but I did find this St. Anthony with the Child.

There was a statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe at the top of the espadaña, but it has been removed for restoration. Devotion to Nuestra Señora de la Soledad was very popular at that time, and there is a beautiful dressed statue of her behind the altar. Notice the handkerchief; this is one of her “atributos.'”  Interestingly, the church here in St. Augustine that had been used prior to the building of the big parish church (now the Cathedral) was run by the Franciscans and also named in honor of La Soledad.

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The diocese of Monterey was created in 1849, and the chapel was designated the pro-cathedral (a church designated as the first cathedral building, which often changes when a new one is built for the diocese). As the diocese grew, the title passed to a different building, but in 1967, the diocese was split and the bishop once again came to reside in Monterey, making the Royal Chapel a cathedral once again and, hence, the smallest cathedral in the United States.

Final Mission of the Trip

We had decided that Mission San Luis Obispo was as far as we’d be able to get on this trip, so we looped through the town of that name (a big college town where Cal Poly is located) before heading back to San Francisco.

San Luis was founded in 1772, and like all the others, had nearly sunk into the ground by the end of the 19^th century. Conservation efforts in the 1930s restored it.Mission San Luis is still in use as a parish; the church building is quite beautiful, and the restoration of the interior has been carried out very well. It had a number of interesting art works scattered about.

The former residential wings now house a museum that is very much in need of curatorial efforts. According to a sign I saw, they have launched a project to improve and modernize their exhibits.

Each mission still has its own distinctive feel, based not so much on its history as its use today. La Soledad, for example, seemed to me to have a feeling of great piety and the volunteers who worked in the well-stocked gift shop obviously loved it. Mission San Luis struck me as the least pious. The informational brochure makes it sound as if the friars were cynical tools of the Spanish government and almost gives the impression that the secularization of the missions by the Mexican government, after Mexico gained its independence from Spain, was because of mismanagement and failure of the missions. This was not the truth; the Mexican government and then the ranchers wanted the missions precisely because many were so successful and because they had no interest whatsoever in the welfare of the Indian converts for whom the friars had labored. In addition, the gift shop contained some odd, syncretist books about various gurus and spiritual movements that I am sure would have caused Fr. Serra to have a heart attack on the spot, unless he rallied himself long enough to overturn the bookshelves first.

However, perhaps this unfortunate outlook was limited to the gift shop or had been the product of some prior church administration, because the parish seemed to be active and in fact there were several baptisms in progress when I visited it (on a Saturday morning, obviously the parish’s day for baptizing infants).   In addition, they had recently restored and added to their bells, as you can see from this interesting plaque that was on the front of the church.

I did manage to find a Nativity scene.  It was in the museum and unfortunately there was little information provided about it.

On the wall in the church there was this lovely figure of St Anthony holding the Child; again, I don’t know anything about it.  The wall decoration behind it is not original, but is a contemporary version of the sort of paintings done on the walls of the early missions and those popular in modern Mexican religious art.

In addition, we have this very charming Virgin and Child, also in the church.

And finally, a very striking Deposition. It is no doubt a 19th century piece, probably French or British, and I feel that I should be able to identify the artist by looking at it, because the work has a distinctive style that looks familiar. But nothing came to mind, and again, there was no information.  Naturally, this is a church and not a gallery, so you wouldn’t expect to see the art works labeled. But it would be nice if the missions had catalogs or lists of their work that you could obtain in the gift shop, since the works and their histories would probably reveal a lot about Mission – and Catholic – life in California over the centuries.

Two More Central California Missions

Today I visited Mission Santa Inés and Mission La Purisima.  Santa Inés was a pleasant surprise. One of the few missions where the church remained staffed and in use even after the end of the mission system, Santa Inés still serves as a parish church and it is obvious that it has been maintained and improved over the years, and much of the original mission art and architecture has either been preserved or restored in recent years.

The surprising part was its large collection of 17th and 18th century Spanish Colonial art: the walls in the museum section were liberally decorated with religious paintings, mostly from Mexico, of very high quality. Unfortunately, there was no information about how or when they arrived at the mission, but they were at least identified.

Here we did find some Nativity art.  First of all, we see this little Nativity group, which is on a shelf on the wall in the church.  It was described as 17th century Mexican and is in beautiful condition. 

My apologies for the somewhat murky photos.  Light in the church was poor and use of the flash was not permitted.  In addition, all of the works are high up on the wall, probably for security reasons, which also necessitated the installation of security cameras everywhere (missions have lost many works to theft over the years).

Also in the church were two fine paintings of the Adoration of the Shepherds, above, and the Flight Into Egypt.  They are from 17th century Mexico, the school of Baltasare Echave Orio.

Here's a glimpse of the main altar, featuring Santa Inés (St. Agnes).

Like most of the Missions, Santa Ines owes its preservation to a dedicated enthusiast in the 20th century. While it had continued to operate as a church, much of it was very run down.  Several of its 20th century priests were involved in restoring it, and in one case, the neice of one of the pastors arrived to spend a month and ended staying for 20 years, restoring vestments and art work.  In addition, that indefatigable group, the Daughters of the Golden West, contributed money and time to this mission, as to most of the others.

Quite different is MIssion La Purísima, about 20 miles away.  This was restored as a CCC project in the 1930s and is now a state park.  It's a great living history exhibit and really gives visitors a feel for the busy daily life of a large mission, which was really more like a small, enclosed town than anything else.  The church has also been restored, although is not used as anything other than an exhibit.  It was quite large, as you can see from this photo.

 

Finally, a glimpse of something that may or may not be a Nativity figure. This beautifully polychromed figure was locked in a case on the wall.  I thought it was possible that he was a Niño that had lost his "atributos,"  that is, the identifying symbols, such as a globe or a bird in one hand, that would make it possible to identify him more specifically.  But here he is, in any case, an unknown possible Niño.

 

Three Missions

The three missions on today's trip gave three views of the reality of mission life. First of all, we have Mission Soledad (Nuestra Sra de la Soledad) near the town of that name, which is otherwise known for its big state prison. 

Soledad (Loneliness) is aptly named: it is by itself on a windy hillside in a dry area that is, paradoxically, swept by floods during the rainy season, when all the arroyos suddenly surge with water.  THe mission was never very successful and was beset by hardships; its final priest, Fr. Sarria, died of starvation. He collapsed while saying mass and his body was carried by the Indians 45 miles to MIssion San Antonio for burial.

But the chapel has been beautifully restored and the mission gift shop now does a lively trade and seems to be somewhat of a center for local residents.  Baptisms, weddings and quinces (quinceaneras, the celebration of a girl's 15th birthday, when she traditionally became marriageable) are held there. The olive grove is being restored and the mission now produces and sells its own olive oil.

San Antonio was just the reverse. Located on the Hunter Ligget military reservation, much of it has been restored, revealing the huge and flourishing community that it once was.  THere are two large wings, one of which has been rebuilt, giving you an idea of the scope and scale of the friars' activities. The museum has curiousities ranging from local archeological finds to some of the early instruments used at the mission.

The chapel - where Fr. Sarria is buried - is still in use as a parish church. It has been well restored.  You enter from the cloister on the side, where there are huge rose gardens and a fruit and nut orchard.

Finally, Mission San Miguel...or what remains of it. The Mission was seriously damaged in an earthquake in 2003.  Most of the outbuildings are restored but the church, unfortunately, is not open.  They hope to reopen this September. The mission is still in use by the Franciscans.

The only Nativity related thing I found for you is this small modern bas relief embedded in the wall at Mission San Antonio.  The style of painting around it is part of the recreation of the style employed at the mission in the 18th century.

Back to the Missions

Once again I am following the California Mission trail, this time starting where I left off – Mission Carmel – and working south through the Central California missions.

 

The last time I visited Mission Carmel, I arrived minutes before closing and had to do a high-speed running tour, keeping one step ahead of the guards who were shutting off the lights behind me. This visit was more leisurely and I actually had time to read the information.

As far as Nativity figures, I showed blog readers the 18th – 19th century Neapolitan presepio that had been a gift to the Mission a couple of decades ago, intended to replace one that was known to have been in its possession in the 18th and early 19th centuries but disappeared somewhere along the line.

Other than that, the mission is full of Niños and St. Josephs and Virgins.  One of the most interesting is Nuestra Sra de Belén, a large 18th century Virgin holding the Child. At one time, it belonged to the Archbishop of Mexico City, who gave it to Fr. Junipero Serra, the founder of this mission and many of the other missions, to accompany him on his travels.  The Archbishop renamed her “La Conquistadora,”  Our Lady the Conqueror.  In the photo, you will see La Conquistadora behind another smaller figure of the Virgin for some reason placed in this location.

Mission Carmel is the third mission founded, and the figure was permanently installed here and has remained at Mission Carmel (or, when the Mission was abandoned, at a nearby church) since its founding.  There were many Portuguese sailors and fishermen living in the area and they were particularly devoted to her and gave her the punched silver crown that she wears. Her clothing was replaced in the 1950s, but the figure is the original, probably made in Mexico, and has the original painting and finish.  She reminded me very much of the 18th century Spanish-made figure of Our Lady of Carmel that I saw in the chapel at Ponferrada when I was working as an hospitalera there last year.

When Pope John Paul II visited Mission Carmel, officially known as Mission San Carlos Borromeo, for the beatification of Fr Junípero Serra in 1987, he prayed before La Conquistadora.

The Mission is very beautiful and is beautifully maintained. On one side is the old churchyard, where the Mission Indians were buried in these abalone-shell decorated graves.  The indefatigable Harry Downie, a 20th century woodworker who nearly singlehandedly restored most of the missions, is also buried there.  Fr Serra is buried in the church, in front of the altar.