In my previous article I described the oldest barrio in San Miguel de Allende, excepting San Miguel Viejo where the original mission was founded in 1542. It is the barrio of Veracruz, on the hill along Cuesta de San Jose. Therefore, the oldest church here also qualifies as the oldest in the outlying areas. The oldest church in San Miguel, in the central historical area, is that of San Rafael, also called La Santa Escuela, dating back to around 1555. But the original chapel of Santa Veracruz, today the church of San Jose de la Montaña is the oldest church in the oldest barrio beyond El Centro.
Veracruz means “the true cross,” and is an important symbol for Christians as it represents the death of Jesus Christ on the cross, followed by his resurrection. A cross is a geometrical figure of two intersecting lines, usually perpendicular to each other, as the emblem used by Christians. A cross of oblique lines, in the shape of the letter X, is termed a saltire. The cross is widely accepted as a symbol of Christianity, but it was used for millennia before in other cultures throughout Europe, Asia and Africa—particularly in Egypt. It was also a symbol used by the ancient cultures of America, and it is no surprise that when the Spanish friars began to inculcate Christian beliefs onto the natives, they found it useful to connect the cross to the indigenous traditions.
Church scholars later attempted to find connections among uses of the cross in Toltec, Aztec, and Mayan religions and Christianity. As frequently happens in inaccurate “scientific” studies, the desired result becomes the goal of the research, and everything that appears to lead toward that end is taken as evidence, and what does not fit is discarded. It is the opposite of what the scientific method requires, which is doing research of the details and seeing where those lead, rather than the reverse method which I just described.
Therefore connections have been made among Jesus Christ, the Virgin Mary, and various saints to the deities in the Mesoamerican pantheon. A prime example is the connection of the Virgin of Guadalupe to the Aztec goddess Tonantzin, but that is a separate, complicated issue. 1 Here the focus is on the cross, its meaning for Christians, and how it was represented in ancient Mesoamerican images; particularly in two of the ancient codices.
The Borgia Codex 2 shows an image of the god Quetzalcoatl either carrying a saltire, or attached to it, and this has been used to connect the Aztec god to Jesus. However, the cross of Quetzalcoatl has no connection to the death of Christ on the cross. Instead, it represent the four cardinal directions which form the foundation of Mesoamerican religion and cosmology, from the time of the Olmecs around 3500 years ago, to the comparatively recent (1345-1521) Aztecs. Furthermore, Quetalcoatl died by immolation not crucifixion.
Another image widely used (often falsely attributed to the Borgia Codex), comes from the Nuttell Codex 3 and it shows what does appear as the god Quetzalcoatl bound to a sort of cross. This image has been used to
once again connect the Aztec god to Jesus Christ on the cross, but the Aztec significance is quite different.
The Aztecs did not practice crucifixion—although they did practice some horrific forms of death—therefore this image could not be a scene of crucifixion. Most likely it represents one of the myths related to this god, in which it is told that he was immolated, and after that his heart rose to heaven and became the planet Venus.
The point of this discourse about the cross is to show its significance not only for the Catholics, who were the first Europeans to come here, but also for the natives who were the original inhabitants. Erecting a cross was usually the first way of marking a spot on which a chapel, then a church would be built. The concept of the Santa Veracruz, the holy, and authentic cross, was then used to name the chapel built on Cuesta de San Jose, as well as the neighborhood itself.
The first chapel up on the crest of the hill was completed around 1580, and was the place of worship for the indios living around it. It was a short distance from the Cuartel del Ejercito, the army barracks, put there to protect the passing mule trains as they continued into town along the royal inland road—Camino Real de Tierra Adentro.
On December 1, 2024, I visited the church and spoke to the sexton, Don Jose Gomez and the custodian, Moises Gonzalez. Don Jose, now retired after several decades of service, was very knowledgeable about the church, providing information and dates with ease. He explained that the building itself is original, as are several works of art. The carved figure of St. Joseph on the façade was placed there when the church was built.
Inside the sacristy there is a sculpture of Jesus on the cross, a painting of Nuestra Señora de la Soledad, and a statue of Saint Anthony of Padua, all from that period. He added a small detail about the sculpture of San Antonio, which he said they called San Antonio de Saramago because it was brought from an area called Arroyo de Saramago.
Between 1763 and 1764 the church was renamed San Jose. At that time they acquired the three paintings in the sacristy: St. Peter, St. Joseph working, and the Piedad. None of these have names of painters; however the one of St. Joseph in his workshop has an inscription in the center on the bottom: Obsequio que hizo el Sr. Don Jose Correa a la capilla de San Jose, San Miguel de Allende, Marzo 17, 1916—Gift given by Don Jose Correa to the chapel of San Jose, San Miguel de Allende, March 17, 1916
The painting of St. Peter is interesting because of a physical detail that appeared after its acquisition. On the left side of the saint’s forehead is a circular blemish, and Don Jose explained that it was done by a bullet, shot from outside during the Cristero Wars (1926- 1929).
The other painting that may be worth mentioning hangs in the sacristy, and shows St. Joseph on his deathbed, flanked by Jesus and Mary, with St. Michael to the right. This supposedly came from Spain in the 18th century.
An important change in appearance came in the 21st century when the house that was in front of the church, facing Cuesta de San Jose, was bought by the parishioners. It was demolished, creating an open space which is now part of the atrium fronting the church. At that time the new wall with a gate, was added. The church now has a large open patio in front with steps leading to the original church.
The Borgia Codex is a pre-Columbian Mesoamerican pictorial manuscript showing rituals and calendars used by the native people. It was created in the 16th century and acquired by the Borgia codex in a later century.
Nuttall Codex, also known as Zouche-Nuttall is a pre-Columbian document of indigenous pictography acquired by the Baroness Zouche, published by Zelia Nuttall in 1902, and eventually donated to the British Museum.
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