Fray Junipero Serra, the great missionary from San Fernando to Jalpan

Where we left off in our previous post, Fray Junipero Serra arrived at the Church of San Fernando, on the morning of January 1st, 1750. The standard procedure here was to retain recruits at this Franciscan Center of Propaganda Fide for two years of missionary training, but in the case of Fray Junipero Serra, his stay lasted a mere 5 months.
 

View of the façade of San Fernando

 

The Missionaries trained at San Fernando were referred to as Fernandinos, and many of the Missionaries that finished their studies here were sent to the Sierra Gorda.
 

The central frieze over the main entrance to the

Church of San Fernando, depicts the saint

 carrying a sword in his right hand and the world

in his left, triumphant over pagans, and

interceding for the souls in purgatory.

 

The Church of San Fernando had only been recently created, yet in the middle of the 18th Century, it was the largest Church in Mexico City.

Here is a side view of what once was the Church

of San Fernando as seen today. The archway in

the middle of the sidewall is the side entrance to

the main altar of the Church. The buildings on

the side seam to camouflage the church, a trend

seen frequently in churches and convents in

Mexico after the 1860 Laws of La Reforma

dictated the expropriation of Church property

(the stores on right hand side are privately

owned).

 

Fray Junipero studied the books in the library of San Fernando, on History, Philosophy, Theology and especially Fray Alonso de la Peña Montenegro's Manual on missionary activity, Itinerario de Paracos de Indios, who asserted that the only way to the Indians heart, and to his conversion, was through "his ears". It was absolutely necessary to learn their language.

 

Carved out of stone, under a seashell,

symbol of purity- Here we find Saint

Francis beholding the Cross of Christ

in his hands, which one day carry

the stigmata, the miraculous sign

of the nails of Christ´s Passion in

the palms of his hands and in

his feet.

 

The Missionary work with the Panes Indians in the Sierra Gorda did not begin with Fray Junipero, and not even with other Franciscans: it was the Augustinians who began the Missions in Jalpan as early as during the second half of the 17th Century.

  

Notice the columns with the zigzag

engraving pattern, popular in the mid

18th Century Baroque style in New

Spain. Here is the Statue of Saint

Dominic on the side of the main
doorway of San Fernando.

 

Before parting from San Fernando, let's talk about its interesting history in the 19th Century. The Chronicler of  Mexico City, Don del Valle Arispe in 1861 wrote: "In 1860, the government (of President Juarez)...suppressed all Monastic orders, and the Convent of San Fernando was abandoned, as well as its beautiful Church. Many took to the task of dismantling and destroying (the retables), not leaving one single painting nor one single book: all the  altars golden altars had been devastated."

Main altar and retablo at the

Church of San Fernando.

 

Yet last week, when I visited San Fernando, I found the main altar Retablo intact, as you can see in the above . This experience moved me to write a rule for pilgrims, like myself, because as pilgrims, we live in a world not only of faith, but of facts: Do not be quick to assume that you are looking is what you believe you are seeing.

 

Christ on the Cross in the top

niche of the Retablo with San

Fernando in the middle box.

 

Yesterday I visited the 18th Century Church of San Fernando in Mexico City. I was admiring the beautiful main altar retablo or altarpiece, similar to those that Miguel Cabrera was making at the same time in Tepotzotlan, less than 25 miles away. The style is the same: churriguresco or late Baroque.

Maria. Mother of Jesus, and her

Immaculate Conception are the

Inspiration of all Franciscan

Missionaries

 

Later I read that the original retablo was damaged in 1858 during an earthquake, and then, a year later, after the seizure of Church property, under the laws of Juarez, desecrated and possibly even chopped up as wood. The retablo I was looking at was actually made in the mid 20th Century, as similar as possible to the original.

 

On the left hand side of the

Retablo of the main altar feature

from top to bottom, Saint Louis

King of France, Saint Francis of

Assisi in the middle and Saint

Anthony  of Padua with the

InfantJesus on the bottom

 

When we visit a church from a certain period, we usually assume that everything we are looking at is original, or from the same period. Churches and convents are similar to living organisms,: they grow, they change, they become old, and at times, die.

 

On the lower right hand box of

the retablo we find Saint Joseph

carrying the Infant Jesus, and

Saint Dominic above them.

 

So fellow pilgrim, you have a choice to make. To be a purist or a realist, when it comes to beholding works of arte sacra from centuries past. The fact is, some of what you see is original, some is restored, some is rebuilt, and some are modern pieces of art, using the style and techniques of another time. In the latter case, I hear sometime the term "a fake" used. I think that this misses the whole point of visiting a church. A work of art is beautiful, it moves us, it inspires us, or it doesn't. The questions of authenticity are secondary.

 

The top box of the right side of

the Retablo of the main altar is

 occupied by Saint Elizabeth of

 Hungary, married at 14, widow

at ago 20 and an exemplary

Franciscan tertian, attending

to the sick

  

Coming back to the subject at hand, that is Fray Junipero and the Mission of Jalpan., the objective of the Franciscans and of the Spaniards in the Sierra Gorda when Fray Junipero arrived was to integrate the Panes more into the daily life of Missions, and to have them adopt European agricultural methods, living a life, to use the Franciscan expression, "under the bell".

Nativity Scene on the left wall of San Fernando

 

Fray Junipero had three important allies in this enterprise of the Sierra Gorda: his two Franciscans friars from Mallorca, Francisco Palou and Juan Crespi, and the chief military officer of the zone, assigned to the Sierra Gorda, to extinguish the frequent Indian raids against Jalpan and the other nearby missions, Juan de Escandón.

 

Pulpit from which Fray Junipero Serra

 undoubtedly gave many a sermon in the

Church of San Fernando

 

Fray Junipero was the Missionary that who went the furthest in achieving the goal of civilizing the Panes.

This pulpit is masterpiece of woodcarving

freaturing on the bottom of the panels, from

right to left, great figures of the Franciscan

Order, starting with the"columns of observation"

Blessed Albert of Sarzana, Saint

James of Marches, Saint Bernadino of Siena

and Saint John of Capistrano, with his chest

plate as soldier and defender of Belgrade.

At the base of the fifth column is the effigy

of Fray Pedro de Gant, the great founder

 of la Escuela de los Naturales  (or Natives)

in Mexico City, in the first years after the

Conquest. Pedro de Gant appears there

holding two children, one with a headdress.

The Panes, by their own design, like many other native American ethnic groups indigenous of Northern Mexico, who were all collectively considered "Chichimecas" according to the Aztecs, or to translate the term from Nahuatl, "those who nourish themselves with dog dong" or "dirty sons of dogs", never became a fully integrated people of  New Spain. Few of them went to live in the Mission farms set up by the Franciscans.

Left side entrance to the Church of San

Fernando with the celosia for the members of

the cloister on the top level, and a series of

narrative paintings depicting the spiritual

genealogical tree of the Franciscan Order.

  

Desertion of the Missions was dealt with firmly by Escandón, and the deserters (the Panes) were brought back by force to the Missions and wiped, and if they were found in their native villages, their huts were torched. Escandón and Serra were sure that only if the Panes came to live on the Missions and adopt traditional European agricultural techniques, or to use an expression frequently used by Palou, "living under the Mission bell", were the Panes ever to become part of the social fabric of New Spain.

Statue of Fray Junipero Serra in

the vestibule of the church of

San Fernando, with the Church

in his left hand, and part of

cross (that has been broken off)

 

The Panes were deeply concerned for their own health, welfare and eventual survival. It was common for them to suffer the heaviest when epidemics, mostly of European origin, struck the Missions.

Precarious state of the spandrel

as well as other critical points the

vault, in urgent need of

maintenance, at the Church of

San Fernando, which suffered

even greater damage during the

June 18th, 1858 earthquake

Their diet for the most part was seasonal and more varied than the typical diet of beans, grains, beef and pork, popular with Europeans at that time.

Main dome of San Fernando with star symbol

 of the  Franciscans.

 

The Panes practiced "sembrar en rozas", or "slash-and-burn" agriculture, which the natives around Mexico still practice to this day, and to the great dismay of the local Environmental Authorities that try to dissuade this practice, as it contributes a great deal to the City's air pollution levels, especially during the dry Spring months of March and April.

 

Mary, Queen of Heaven, above the Cross of

Christ on the side walls of the Church of San

Fernando

 

But Escandón and Serra pushed on, and Serra became the chief architect of the new Jalpan Mission Church. The Fernandinos had established five major Missions in the Sierra Gorda:

• San Miguel de Concá,
• Santa Maria del Agua de Landa,
• San Francisco del Valle de Tilaco,
• Nuestra Señora de la Luz de Tancoyol, beside the jewel of the Sierra Gorda,
• Jalpan.

This magnificent collage of

canvas paintings give us a great

idea on the spiritual genetic tree

of the Franciscans, their saints

their martyrs and their

missionaries.

In all of these Missions, Serra reorganized the lands and the layout of the towns, and if we can give credit to Fray Francisco Palou's eye-witness accounts, as recorded in his letters, the apostolic work showed phenomenal results. The beautiful churches we see throughout the Sierra Gorda today, are mostly the same as Junipero Serra left them 250 years ago. Junipero preferred stone as the chief material of his churches in the Sierra Gorda, and not adobe brick.

This collage of canvases depicts

San Francisco with his Heavenly

and worldly entourage.

 

But the Panes were not the only problem that Serra had to deal with. Many mestizos and gachupinos (Spaniards born in New Spain), encroached on the Mission lands, in spite of the constant protests of the Franciscans. Mathías de Saldivar was such a case, although initially he helped Escandón control the zone. But as time went by, he even defied the orders of the Viceroy, to respect the Mission lands, and this disobedience earned him his demise, by which he eventually lost all his property. The Crown and its orders were to be respected.

 

Fountains in the Plaza de San Fernando,
once the front atrium of the Church, before
the Expropriation during the Juarez period.
 

As you can see, I have included no pictures of the Sierra Gorda or of the Mission.  It is almost 30 years since I have gone there, and when I went, I didn't take a camera. But I hope to be able to return to Jalpan before the end of the year, or early next year. This time, I will bring a camera, and I will post the pictures I take.

 

Because of the beautiful tombs and monuments,

El Panteon de San Fernando has become a

"must go.to place" for la Fiesta de Los Muertos

on November 2nd, every year.

 

Fray Junípero Serra and Fray Francisco Palou ended their days in the Sierra Gorda Missions in 1758. During the next 10 years, they would spend most of their time in San Fernando, preparing Missions and preparing young Missionaries.

Many people living in Mexico City nowadays are

more familiar with the Panteon de San Fernando

(the cemetery) more than with the Church, as

many of Mexico's most important political

figures of the 19th century, including the wife of

President Benito Juarez (her tomb in this

picture) were buried here.

Then something very unsuspected happened. The Jesuits, who had created missions throughout Northern Mexico, were banished in 1767 from Spain and New Spain by King Carlos III. The crown decided that the Franciscans, Augustinians and Dominicans, as well as the secular clergy could take over their institutions and missions. At first, the Ferdinandos were Galvez in 1768  to take over the abandoned Missions of the Jesuits in Baja California, and both and Palou were assigned to them. Yet as time went on, they realized that Baja California was too scarcely populated to sustain feasible Missions. On March 28th, 1769, a 65 year old Franciscan, with a chronically handicapped leg, set out to walk overland to San Diego Bay, where he would be met with supplies by two vessels.

After the Expropriation of San

Fernando during the presidential

period of Benito Juarez, the Church

cemetery, used up until that period

for the burial of Franciscans and

their benefactors, was destined as a

 memorial for the most important

heroes of Mexico. Here is the

tomb of Mexico's Independence

War Heroic General and later

President who abolished slavery 

 

Fray Junipero would arrive on June 29th to San Diego, and as he approached the bay, he was happy to see the San Antonio and the San Carlos, the two Spanish ships awaiting them there. From here, Fray Junipero would set off to establish the Mission of Monterey, and the other missions of the Alta California.

 

Estela is in one of several courtyards

in what once was the San Fernando

compound.

 

My articles of the next few days will deal with the two presidios and the six missions set up by Fray Junipero or by Fray Francisco Palou or by Fray Crespi during the following 15 years.

This bridge over the San Juan River in the town

of San Juan del Rio, in the State of Querétaro,

 built in 1711 by Pedro de Arrieta, master

architect of the Cathedral of Mexico City and the

 Basilica of Guadalupe was part only entrance

to the town at the time of Fray Junípero Serra

 

The work and dreams of those three Franciscans and their Ferdinandos gave a personality to California, that still remains, in its architecture, its love of natureand its spirit of indomitable enthusiasm: "Siempre adelante", "Always ahead", the motto of Fray Junipero, up to his dying day in the Mission of San Carlos Borromeo, in Carmel, California.