Churches in New Mexico - El Santuario de Chimayo, El Rito Presbyterian Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in New Mexico (Paperback)

Chapters: El Santuario de Chimayo, El Rito Presbyterian Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in New Mexico, San Jose de Gracia Church, San Francisco de Asis Church, Ranchos de Taos, Bodhi Manda Zen Center. Source: Wikipedia. Pages: 26. Not illustrated. Free updates online. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Excerpt: El Santuario de Chimayo - El Santuario de ChimayoThe Santuario is on Juan Medina Drive in Chimayo. It is entered through a walled courtyard. Built of adobe with a bell tower on each side, the church is 60 feet (18 m) long and 24 feet (7.3 m) wide (18 m by 7.3 m) with walls more than 3 feet (about 1 m) thick. Pointed caps on the towers and a metal pitched roof (blocking the clerestory) were added after 1917, probably in the 1920s. The "elegant" doors were carved by the 19th-century carpenter Pedro Dominguez. An unusual feature is two side-by-side rooms at the entrance forming a vestibule or narthex, once used for storage. The nave contains a crucifix by the santero "Molleno" (fl. 18001850) representing Christ of Esquipulas, 6 feet (1.8 m) tall. Other notable folk-art decorations include five reredoses and a small sculpture of St. James the Great. A small room called el pocito (the little well) contains a round pit, the source of "holy dirt" (tierra bendita) that is believed to have healing powers. An adjacent Prayer Room displays many ex-votos as well as photographs, discarded crutches, and other testimonials of those purportedly healed. In the early 19th Century, nineteen families lived in what was then called El Potrero de Chimayo (potrero means pasture). The land where the Santuario now stands belonged to Don Bernardo Abeyta, one of the first members of Los Hermanos de la Fraternidad Piadosa de Nuestro Padre Jesus Nazareno (the Penitentes) in the area. Also, he was probably devoted to the...More: http: //booksllc.net/?id=4122876