Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient ChurchesA 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 Santo Domingo
Ocotlán: Calvary
Group: Crucifix and St. John |
Santo
Domingo Ocotlán |
Santo Domingo Ocotlán, or Ocotlán
de Morelos, is a city of about 14,000 people in Oaxaca's
Central Valley region, about 21 miles (35 km.) from Oaxaca
City. Above: The façade of the church, with five Dominican saints. The one in the highest tier is St. Dominic, shown with the dog that is one of his most familiar attributes. The nun on the right in the lowest tier holding a book in her left hand is either St. Catherine of Siena or, more likely considering the American location, St. Rose of Lima. Both women are commonly shown with a book. The pillar in the foreground with the cross on top is a simpler and more modern version of a feature the Dominicans placed in the forecourts of churches in Oaxaca in the 16th century, a stone cross inscribed with images of the Arma Christi – the instruments used in the torture and crucifixion of Christ. Entering the narthex of the church by the door shown above, we find a chapel on the left with a saint in fire in a glass case. Photo by Alejandro Linares Garcia. Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation; with no Invariant Sections, no Front-Cover Texts, and no Back-Cover Texts. A copy of the license is included in the section entitled GNU Free Documentation License. |