I’m back visiting the California Missions again. This blog has been silent for a few weeks because I have been completely involved in St Augustine activities, including a visit from a Spanish historian who presented a program at the St Augustine Art Association and the foundation of a new organization, the Tolomato Cemetery Preservation Association…but enough of that and on to Nativity figures…
Today I visited Mission Santa Barbara, known as the Queen of Missions. The church is indeed imposing, entirely unlike all of the others with its Roman-influenced design. This is the 7th mission I have seen on my visit to Southern California, and actually completes my Mission journeys: I have now seen all 21 missions, although naturally there are some I’d like to see again. So I’ll have to start in Northern CA and work my way down again.
I have of course been looking for Nativity figures, but have seen very few. However, I did find one at Santa Barbara. The above regal but friendly figure that belonged to the first bishop of California, even before it became a state: Bishop Francisco Garcia Diego y Moreno, who was a Franciscan and spent time at Mission Santa Barbara.
The information described the figure as “Baroque,” and said that it was porcelain, although I wasn’t sure this was the case. It looked like polychromed wood, to me. In any case, the figure is original, but the gown is a replacement. It is thought that the figure was part of a Nativity scene, although I suspect that it may have been used on its own, possibly brought out at Midnight Mass on Christmas for veneration and then kept in the front of the church for the Christmas season.
Comments