Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches

A study of santos in 16th-century and other churches in Oaxaca, Mexico


By Claire and Richard Stracke
Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

In San Juan Teitipac:

Christ carrying the Cross
Christ: Ecce Homo (1)
Christ: Ecce Homo (2)
Christ in a coffin
Christ in the Pretorium ("Pensive Christ") 1
Christ in the Pretorium ("Pensive Christ") 2
Christ resurrected
Crucifix (1)
Crucifix (2)
Crucifix (3)
Immaculate Heart of Mary
Our Lady of Candlemas
Our Lady of Mount Carmel
Our Lady of Sorrows
Our Lady of Sorrows (Soledad)
Our Lady of the Assumption
Our Lady of the Rosary (1)
Our Lady of the Rosary (2)
Palm Sunday Christ
St. Anthony of Padua
St. Benedict
St. Hyacinth
St. Isidore the Laborer
St. John the Baptist (1)

St. John the Baptist (2)
St. John the Baptist, head of
St. Joseph
St. Nicholas Factor
St. Peter Avril
St. Peter the Apostle (1)
St. Peter the Apostle (2)
St. Simon Stock
Trinity
Unidentified saint

Other santos not photographed

St. Peter of Verona (?)

St. Peter of Verona?
Not highly detailed. Sr. Lopez identified the saint as San Pedro Avril and reports that his feast day is April 29. In the international church calendar this is the feast day of St. Peter of Verona. In Oaxaca this saint is usually called San Pedro Mártir and represented with an axe or machete in his head and sometimes a dagger in his breast. These attributes are not present in the Teitipac Peter, but a sheaf of real palm (presumably to emblematize martyrdom) has been inserted between the hands and the trunk. The statue is carved of a single piece of wood and the folds of the habit are heavy in appearance. Gesso has chipped away in various places.

Local Name: San Pedro Avril

Basis for Identification: Dominican habit, tonsure, praying hands.

Other characteristics: Forked beard.

Site: Church of San Juan Teitipac.

Location: North wall of the nave (see note).

Media and construction: Wood, gesso, paint.

Size: About 2 feet (60 cm.) including base.

Santos of St. Peter of Verona in Oaxaca: Achiutla, Santa Ana del Valle, Coixtlahuaca, Cuilapan, Etla, Huitzo, Diaz OrdazTlacolula, Yanhuitlán.

External Links:
Wikimedia Commons: Statues of St. Peter of Verona in Mexico
Catholic Encyclopedia: St. Peter of Verona
Wikipedia: Peter of Verona
Christian Iconography: St. Peter Martyr

Next: A statue of St. John the Baptist

Previous santo

Introduction to San Juan Teitipac

Santos Home Page

Note: On this site, references to the cardinal directions always assume that the main altar is at the east end of the church, the narthex or entry area at the west end, and the two walls of the nave on the north and south. (The nave is the long central section.) Actual orientations may differ.

The photo shown here is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. You are free to share or remix it on two conditions: first, that you attribute it to the photographers, Claire and Richard Stracke, without implying any approval of your work on their part; second, that if you alter, transform, or build upon this photo, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.