12/12: Frescoes in Santa Rosa's Loreto Chapel & Removable Heads in Santiago's Statues!

As we made our way from the delightful Santa Maria de Fe further south toward the town of Santa Rosa in Paraguay's Missiones department or state, our fantastic driver and guide, Jose, mentioned that the largest concentration of people in the early 1700s were in the Jesuit Reduction towns which each had 8,000 people compared to just 5,000 in the capital of Asuncion.

If you're a birdwatcher, Paraguay is definitely the place to come, especially if you're fortunate to have the eagle eyes of someone like Jose. He spotted from a distance this yellow-headed falcon!

 

Just as in one area of Australia Steven and I visited years ago, there were cone-shaped termite mounds everywhere en route to Santa Rosa!

The sign read Welcome to Santa Rosa de Lima as it was named after the famous saint. The town was founded in 1698 as an overflow Reduction town from what was then the much larger Santa Maria de Fe.

One side of the plaza had a whole row of the casas de indios that we'd grown accustomed to seeing the last few days as we drove south in the old Jesuit-founded towns of southern Paraguay. Most of the former Guarani indigenous people's homes were now small shops but the last was the local police station!

In the plaza was a statue of a figure from Guarani mythology and a modern stone fountain.

In the center of the plaza or town square was the town church with its four preserved columns of red stone set in the exterior wall. The original church was destroyed in 1883 by fire.

Fortunately the stunning reredos or ornamental screen that covered the wall at the back of one of the side altars was saved so it was now the centerpiece of the 'new' church.

One of the cherubs perched on top of the reredos was black which, according to Margaret Hebblethwaite, the author of the Bradt Travel Paraguay Guide, signified "one of the earliest instances of racial justice awareness expressed through art."

The pretty church also had some statues of saints carved in the Jesuit period including this one of St. John the Baptist with his lamb.

The bell tower with its red stone blocks was next door.

We had to wait several minutes while Jose found the caretaker to open up just for us the small Loreto Chapel next to the tower and church. Unfortunately, my photos below don't capture the beautifully carved door and window.

 

Before entering, we were shown the holes in the 400-year-old urundelyme wood beams where poisonous worms had burrowed in and then died inside!

To say we were overwhelmed once we entered the chapel and took in the spectacular frescoes and statues created from 1698 to the early 1700s is an understatement! Jose hadn't 'prepared' us for their magnificence, wanting them to speak for themselves.

The Annunciation:

The letters QSD on St. Michael's shield in the Last Judgement stood for the Latin words Quis Sicut Deus or Who is Like God.

 

A depiction of Joseph's carpentry shop:

If you click on this photo to make it bigger, you'll be able so see more clearly the transport of Mary's house from Nazareth to Loreto on the bottom left.

The most famous sculptures in the chapel were of Gabriel and Mary at the Annunciation by Giuseppe Brassanelli, a Jesuit sculptor and architect who arrived in Paraguay in 1691 and who was responsible for changing how statues were carved.

The loveliest piece in the small room was the Pieta, probably also created by Brassanelli. There we saw the Virgin Mary crazed with grief with her head raised to wail at the heavens, besieged with grief.

The mural of the Immaculate Conception depicted Mary being told she would be the mother of God

Jose mentioned that Santa Rosa, a jewel of a town, was the only Jesuit Guarani Reduction in any country to have a surviving Loreto Chapel, even though such a chapel distinct from the main church would have been a feature of the Reductions.

The Loreto Virgin:

I can't tell you honored we were to have spent time alone in that wonderful chapel with Jose helping us to pick out the specific scenes among the fabulous frescoes. Regardless of one's faith, the paintings and statues by Jesuit clergy with assistance from the Guarani would have been a delight simply for their artistic merits alone. 

Paraguay, we'd discovered, was a country with great natural beauty and friendly people but is one of the least visited in South America. What a terrible shame so many tourists to South America bypass Paraguay as they are missing so much based on what we'd been privileged to see the last several days. And, our trip to this inland country wasn't even done yet!

Jose told us that as we were driving southeast toward the town of Santiago, we would be seeing more crops and fewer cattle

Santiago was known for its diocesan museum and its Jesuit remains including a lot of original casas de indios around the plaza. It billed itself as the "Capital of the Traditional Mission Towns."

  

We visited the church first to look at the reredos with its baptismal theme. It would have been in the baptistry of the original church from 1725 and showed, from left to right St. Francis Xavier baptizing Christians, St. John baptizing Jesus, and St. Peter baptizing Ethiopian eunuchs.

We went back to the diocesan museum next door where we had a guide who took us around to explain each piece. The museum was divided into three rooms, dedicated to the Incarnation, the Redemption - with figures from the Passion and Resurrection - and Jesuit saints. I read that the statues were of mixed quality unlike its sister town of Santa Maria de Fe which had large masterpieces. 

Jose and the museum guide with Steven:

Brilliantly painted wooden panels showed Jesus entrusting keys to Peter and sweet angels with wings. Note the absence of any sense of perspective in these paintings.

The Holy Family:

I laughed when the guide showed us St. Francis Xavier's head could be removed for easier transportation! We have a seen a gazillion statues over our years of travels but this was a first!

The marble baptismal font was the only stone that remained from the original church.

St. Luis Gonzaga's head was also removable! As the statues were used in processions, they were much lighter and easier to move with the removable heads and articulated arms and hands.

The guide pointed out that some of the figures and in the crib showed traces of Flemish influence due to the Reduction having been founded by Jesuits from that area of Belgium. This manger scene was the only one with a musician playing a guitar!

On the side of the museum was a grassy slope with a few remnants of the old church's adobe walls before it collapsed. 

At last a map which may help give you an idea of where the towns in southern Paraguay are that I have been writing about in the last few posts!

 

Though Itapua was a different department or state from Missiones, it still had three old Jesuit missions, two of them in ruins. We would be visiting each of them of course!

When planning the itinerary with Jose over countless emails, I had mentioned to him we'd be interested in stopping at the indigenous Pindo village community so we could learn more about the Guarani people and how their way of life had been affected when they were relocated because of a huge dam that was built. It turned out that the word 'community' was a bit grandiose as there were only a few scattered homes along the highway en route to the town of San Cosme y Damian.

Jose was able to arrange fur us to stop at one man's home so we could look at the wooden crafts he made. They were all of animals and birds and, therefore, not something we normally gravitate to. But there was no way we could possibly walk away without buying something given this man's kindness sharing his work with us. We ended up buying the leopard on the front of the chair for what to us was a ridiculously low price, but was more than he asked. And, guess what, that leopard with a fish in its mouth has constantly reminded us since of our wonderful visit to the Museo del Barro in Asuncion where we'd first seen such wooden figures!

Visiting the outside of his home was the first time we'd seen what amounted to close to abject poverty in Paraguay. It brought home to me how native people here in the US and also in my home country of Canada have also suffered so terribly.

The man and his family managed to eke out a living growing some  corn, beans and onions, Jose told us, after observing the plants. There were also avocado and mango trees on the property.

As we drove away, Jose remarked that nobody appreciated the indigenous art and that "people" were still taking advantage of the Indians in Paraguay who account for 1.5% of the country's population. Steven and I were surprised to learn that for the last 30 years it has been mandatory to teach the Guarani language in schools because so many people in the countryside speak the language. Jose wanted us to understand that the Guarani culture and heritage is intrinsic to Paraguay even though the number of Guarani people was small.

Jose thought we'd be interested in looking at this young belly tree which had lots of thorns. When the tree is old, the thorns disappear. Because the 'belly' of the tree contains lots of water, it's no good for lumber.

The first town in the Itagua department we stopped at was San Cosme y Damian, more than a ruin because it had been partly restored. It was different from the others because it was known as an astronomical center and therefore didn't have the same emphasis on a collection of religious statues. We visited its small planetarium which also had a high-quality telescope for looking at the stars.

 

There we found out the Guarani believed that the earth was like an island that floated in an infinite ocean. We learned that many myths existed among the Guarani in relation to stars. For them, a mythical animal lived in the sky that they called jagua jhovy or the blue jaguar. On seeing the phenomenon, the Guarani people chanted "Jagua jhou yasy" which meant the jaguar has eaten the moon.

For the Guarani, the constellation of Taurus was known as tupasy armaje or the figure of the Virgin Mary.

The stars of Orion's Bell were known as the Three Widows with a widowed mother accompanied by her two recently widowed daughters-in-law as a result of war. Each was pictured crying of loneliness.

One of the few astrolabes of this type in the world showed the movement of the circles of the heavens around the earth. The young guide said the Guarani always pointed to the north.

 

Another Paraguayan town meant naturally another church so that was where we trotted next in the plaza!

Extensive renovations had been carried out thanks to assistance from the Jesuit community in Germany. It included 15 painted ceiling panels that were cleaned and then returned to their original locations.

I liked seeing the sign that said "All are welcome the house of God." The 90 cm-thick walls were the original sandstone. The church contained 45 statues from the 18th century that were made of wood and stone.

During Easter, baby Jesus would be placed in this bassinet and carried in the procession.

Having seen several other similar sculptures in the last day or two, we knew right away this was St. Michael versus the Devil.

Jose told us it was very rare to see St. Joseph balancing on one foot. I didn't know that - did anyone else?!

Two versions of Jesus and the Column:

And a third one!

The baptismal font and candle holder were original and still used!

When Pope John Paul II visited in 1988, he sat in the middle chair.

Even the pillars were original.

I must be sadly lacking in my knowledge of Catholicism as I had never heard before of St. Cosme and St. Damian. Luckily, Jose bailed me out and told us that they were twin Christian brothers and also doctors from Arabia who performed many miracles before they were tortured by the Romans and killed in the 3rd century. The palm tree in front represented martyrdom, something again I hadn't been aware of.

The figure depicting the Immaculate Conception had a face of an indigenous Guarani.

The original church, located right beside the new church, had burned down in 1889.

In one cavernous room off the colonnade, we viewed original flagstones that had lovely designs on them after all these years.

Classrooms and workshops lined the colonnades.

The runoff water after washing hands in this room was collected and used to irrigate the fields.

How remarkable to still see original paintings on the ceiling of a school room that was still being used! Imagine studying there and gazing up at that beautiful ceiling. We discovered similarly painted ceilings in another classroom, too.

The famous sundial was marked in 15-minute segments and was still mostly accurate even thought visitors had exerted pressure on it, thereby distorting the metal bar.

The colonnade was just stunning with their 30-foot long roof timbers.

Beyond the ruins of the old church's cloister were fields of corn and maize. 

It was amazing how forward thinking the 17th century Jesuits were to recycle waste water from the bathrooms for the fields!

This gives you a sense of how mammoth the open area was surrounding the cloister. Jose said it would have been used by the Jesuits for private contemplation and prayer. It would have been ideal for us, too, as there wasn't a soul anywhere!

The red bricks were the original blocks.

The big park opposite the church was likewise empty except for cicadas and parakeets making a colossal and constant din!

Parrots' nests:

 

In the park was a statue of Jesuit astronomer Buenaventura Suarez who was the first astronomer in the Southern Hemisphere. He was able to scrounge wood, quartz and other materials he found nearby to see the heavens.

After the way too frenetic pace of the past few days, it was blissful to be dropped off at the beach in town by Jose for a couple of hours. Once again, it was absolutely deserted! Getting a breather to just hang out by ourselves and read without looking at any more religious statues was what we needed! I am sure Jose also welcomed the break from us!

Dinner and breakfast made by our host at our posada or inn, plus the room itself came to under $50 in San Cosme y Damian. If you're looking for a delightful country to explore that is also amazingly inexpensive, you need to look no further than Paraguay!

Next post: Onto Encarcion and Jesus in even further southern Paraguay!

Posted on February 19th, 2020, from another snowy day in Denver - will this snow never end! Our upcoming trip to hot Sri Lanka, etc is sounding mighty good right now!