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2 Historic Churches on the High Road to Taos

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2 Historic Churches on the High Road to Taos 2 Historic Churches on the High Road to Taos his northbound tour includes churches between the Santuario de Chimayó (discussed in the previous chapter) and San Francisco T de Asís in Ranchos de Taos. Córdova, Truchas, Ojo Sarco, and Las Trampas are missions of Holy Family Parish in Chimayó; Chamisal, Llano, Picurís, Río Lucio, and Placita are missions of San Antonio de Padua parish in Peñasco; and San Francisco de Asís is the mother church and Talpa a mis- sion of the parish in Ranchos de Taos. San Antonio De Padua, Córdova Córdova was initially settled by 1750, but its adobe church, San Antonio, was not built until 1832. The retablos and many of the bultos in the church are works of one of New Mexico’s outstanding santeros, [José] Rafael Aragón. Aragón moved his family to Córdova—then called Pueblo Quemado— after his wife died in 1832. He was about thirty-six at the time, and shortly after, between 1834 and 1838, he was commissioned to oversee a redesign of the church interior and to paint the three altar screens that are still in San Antonio today. A later resident of the village, José Dolores López (1868–1937), pioneered the woodcarving style that is now associated with Córdova. The tradition continues among his descendants and others, and there are signs in the village for home- based workshops and galleries. Visits to San Antonio are generally limited to the exterior unless they coincide with Las Posadas, Holy Week, or the feast day, celebrated on the Saturday or Sunday closest to June 13. There are no regularly scheduled Historic Churches of New Mexico Today. Frank Graziano, Oxford University Press (2019). © Frank Graziano. DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190663476.003.0002 masses. Córdova’s active penitente brotherhood leads services at the church on Good Friday, which is perhaps the best time to visit. The events that day begin in the morning with an encuentro, which reenacts the meeting of Jesus and his mother as represented in the fourth station of the cross. Later that night, after 10:00, the events conclude with tinieblas (known in English by the Latin word for darkness, “tenebrae”), which commemorates the suffering and death of Christ. Tenebrae services— held on Holy Thursday and Good Friday in Córdova— were once repeated for three days in Catholic churches but were discontinued after the reforms that culminated in the Second Vatican Council (Vatican II). Some Latin- mass parishes still adhere to the tradition. Angelo, who has been an hermano for some thirty years, since he was eleven, described these events. For the encuentro the hermanos bring Christ in procession from Córdova’s morada and the community brings Mary from the church, “and right in front of my grandma’s house is the center point where they meet.” Afterward the hermanos return to the morada and the community to the church for prayer, in the afternoon prayer continues at stations of the cross, and later at night the church goes dark for the tinieblas. “We leave thirteen candles on, twelve representative of the apostles and the thirteenth is the Christ candle,” in the center. Nuances of the ritual vary from morada to morada, but at Córdova the hermanos pray a four-verse alabado Photo by T. Harmon Parkhurst. Church at Córdova, New Mexico, circa 1925– 1945. Courtesy of the Palace of the Governors Photo Archives (NMHM/ DCA), negative number 009037. hiStoriC ChurCheS on the high road to taoS | 39 in call and response from two sides of the church, with the groups on each side doing half of the verse. “And after every complete verse we extinguish a candle, until we get to the Christ candle.” After the candles are extinguished prayers for the dead alternate with rep- resentation of the calamity at Christ’s death. “What we do is make a lot of noise, which represents when Christ dies and the earth shatters, the earth quakes, so we mimic that in terms of making noises. We use one device call the matraca [literally ‘ratchet’; percussion instruments on this principle have the same name], and we have homemade ones. We used to have this old paddle, it was a big one like one of those things that you would use to take out a pizza from the oven, something like that big around, and then on each side it would have six or seven pieces of wood— long pieces of wood— hanging by pieces of leather, and then you would shake it.” The hermanos also clap, bang on the pews, stomp, and use the mouthpiece of a flute as a whistle. When I arrived at San Antonio for tinieblas on Good Friday, 2018 the church was already half full. The doors had opened at 7:00 and families— grandparents, parents, a lot of children and teens— arrived gradually until the rosary began around 10:00. A few hermanos were on the altar, including Angelo’s uncle Danny, who is the celador (keeper of the rules) for the morada and also the church mayordomo. While we awaited the arrival of the procession he addressed the teens especially, describing his experience as an hermano, conveying his deep faith, and offering an in- formal catechism by asking questions regarding Christ’s crucifixion and resurrection. The church was overfull when the rest of the hermanos made a proces- sional entrance carrying saints and praying alabados. One hermano occa- sionally spun a ratchet. As they entered the church everyone stood up and on the strength of those alabados the emotion in the room seemed almost palpable, as though you could feel it coming off the voices and pressing against your body. Eventually the hermanos knelt on the altar and in song- prayer recited the rosary in Spanish. The room was dark and only their heads and an Aragón altar screen illuminated by candlelight were visible. The composite— the voices, the people, the ambience—was overwhelming if you let it in, and for me at least the effect was redoubled by the impossibility that this was happening at all, this survival of tradition and priestless deep reverence. Afterward the noisemaking accumulated gradually, and then when all of the candles were extinguished the dark room was suddenly overtaken by whistling, flashing lights, a chain dragged on the floor in the choir loft, and 40 | Historic Churches of New Mexico Today many bangings: on wood, on a garbage-can lid, on a brake drum. When the room quieted the hermanos and then the people in the pews began calling out the names of deceased relatives and friends, followed by por el amor de Dios (“for the love of God”; in this case a prayer for the dead). These remembrances were punctuated periodically by resumption of the noise- making. When everyone who wished to had called out the names of deceased loved ones, the alabados resumed and then the hermanos left the church and lined up in the atrium. People in the pews exited gradually, in a visiting line to greet the hermanos outside. The hermanos then returned in procession to the morada, and you could hear their alabados gradually fading as they turned the corner. Córdova is located in the Quemado Valley, just a minute from Route 76. The village is traditional and its ambience feels timeless. To enter Córdova, make a right onto Route 80. The downhill road levels to a nice drive under cottonwoods, and the same road loops back to Route 76 further northeast. To reach the church, pass Castillo Gallery and then bear right onto Route 0083 (before the gallery there is an earlier turn to Route 0083 that you will pass). The church is on your left a few moments later. Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Rosario, Truchas As you approach Truchas there is a penitente morada on your left, across from the road sign that says “Ojo Sarco, Peñasco, Taos.” The high- road route turns left after the morada to follow Route 76, but continuing straight onto Route 75 takes you into Truchas. Within a few moments you will see Tafoya’s Truchas General Store, now closed, on the right. Turn right immediately after the building and park. The back of Truchas’s church, Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Rosario, will be on your left. As you approach the church on foot there are expansive mountain views. Truchas residents were granted the license to build Nuestra Senora del Rosario in 1760, and the church may have been in use before 1796. Other historians date the church to 1805. A sign at the site has 1764. The church and its walled atrium are generally closed, but masses are celebrated on Sunday mornings during the summer months and on the October 7 feast day. Las Posadas events are held at Truchas’ newer church, Holy Family on Route 76, which was built in the 1950s. Father Roca, who was pastor in Truchas and later in Chimayó, was the inspiration behind that construction. He wrote that local volunteers made the adobes in “rosary batches,” one hundred fifty bricks at a time. hiStoriC ChurCheS on the high road to taoS | 41 Truchas also has an encuentro on Good Friday. This event entails a proces- sion of hermanos from the morada to Nuestra Señora del Sagrado Rosario, where Carmelitas (members of a female religious society) meet them in the atrium with an image of the Virgen Mary. The hermanos carry a Christ carved by Rafael Aragón, and en route they read biblical passages and pause periodically for prayer in Spanish. The church interior has two exquisite altar screens painted by Pedro Antonio Fresquís (1749–1831), who lived in Truchas.
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