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| San Miguel Mission by Tom Mallon, Oil on Canvas |
Religion was at the very root of early settlement in the
Americas. Construction for San Miguel began in 1610, making it the very first
church to be built in what is today the continental United States. This would
have been a full 10 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, another
religious, but far different, enterprise.
A National
Historic Landmark today, San Miguel is located within what was then the Spanish colonial settlement of Santa Fe, located in
the newly opened territory then referred to as Nuevo México
(New Mexico). The Spanish controlled territory of Nuevo México encompassed what is today the state of New Mexico
along with portions of Texas, Kansas and Arizona. The San Miguel church would be the first and
largest Adobe structure of its type to be built north of the Rio Grande.
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| Spanish Conquistadors |
In 1598, about a dozen Franciscan priests traveled north
from Mexico City in a colonizing effort with over a hundred advancing Spanish conquistadors. The
Franciscans would administer the construction and subsequent mission to convert
the native population. However, as time went on, the mission would eventually
grow into a type of Catholic theocracy with the Franciscan's controlling most
territorial policy as well as all dealings with local natives.
Estimates of some 40,000 Pueblo Indians inhabited, hunted and
worked the land when Spanish occupation occurred. The regional native
population then consisted of Pueblo, Navajos and Apache natives, the Pueblo being
more settled and agricultural, the Navajo and Apache nomadic hunters and
gatherers. Initial resistance resulted in the Acoma Massacre of 1599
(named after the Acoma
Pueblo where a dozen Spanish expeditionary soldiers were attacked and
killed). The term "massacre" was loosley assigned to later rationalize the crackdown and executions of natives that followed. Afterwards the Apache
would maintain regular harassment raids on Spanish settlements, but relative
peace would reign amongst the local Pueblo and Navajo tribes for the next 80 years.
By the end of those 80 years, Franciscan rule appeared to be absolute. Natives had been enslaved or otherwise controlled with systematic beatings and
torture. Add to this the introduction of European disease and the native
population was reduced to less than 10,000 or a quarter of what first greeted the
Spaniards. However, there were some eventual benefits to the
natives. New crops, such as wheat, peaches and watermelon were introduced along
with state-of-the art plows, which the natives welcomed.
Religious Conflicts
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| Pueblo Religious Icons |
Catholic reprisals began with the limitation and abolishment
of certain traditional dances and celebrations. Harsh treatment under the
Franciscans was due to the reluctance of the native population to discard their
older religious beliefs. Initially, the Franciscans were pleased with the
enthusiasm, which the indigenous tribes displayed embracing Christ. However, it wasn't long before the
priests would realize Christ had simply become just another god, added to a
litany of gods and beliefs occupying traditionally polytheistic native worship.
Secular Spanish officials, including then Governor López de Mendizábal and the leading Santa
Fe official, Nicolasde Aguilar tried to intercede on behalf of the natives. In response, the
ruling Franciscan body charged them both with heresy and Judaic practices. This
resulted in their arrests and expulsion to Spain to stand trial before the
Spanish Inquisition. Subsequently, Governor Lopez died during the ordeal and an ever defiant Nicolas De Aguilar (someone should make a movie about this guy) was found guilty, yet survived and obstanatly returned to the
New World (against court decree) to finish out his years in Bernalillo, some 50 miles
south of Santa Fe.
The Pueblo Revolt
In the year 1680, the San Miguel Mission and its Franciscan priests became the focal point for a major native uprising, ending in the destruction of the first Santa Fe
settlement and the deaths of hundreds of Spanish settlers.
Now compliant to Franciscan
directive, then governor Juan Francisco Treviño arrested 50 Pueblos on charges
of sorcery. Most suffered public whippings. A few were sentenced to death,
which resulted in a combination of hangings and suicide. Word got out and a
large contingency of Pueblo arrived shortly thereafter to demand the release of the remaining
prisoners. With the garrison out chasing Apache, the Governor had little choice
but to accede to those demands.
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| San Miguel Mission in 1928, 300 years after uprising |
The Governor would live to regret the release of one Pueblo
in particular, named Popé.
Charismatic and persuasive, Popé would spend the next five years rallying a
dozen Pueblo tribes to rise up against the Spanish, eventually outnumbering the settlers by a factor of 10 to 1. A massacre ensued with Spanish loses in the hundreds
and more than 20 Franciscans butchered in plain sight of the townspeople.
The settlement had pretty much been destroyed with the San Miguel church set ablaze. The natives then damned the settlement's water supply and the Governor was force to withdraw, eventually returning to Mexico City. The Navajo and Apache tribes are not known to have participated but Apache raids certainly must have contributed to reduced Spanish forces within and about Santa Fe.
The settlement had pretty much been destroyed with the San Miguel church set ablaze. The natives then damned the settlement's water supply and the Governor was force to withdraw, eventually returning to Mexico City. The Navajo and Apache tribes are not known to have participated but Apache raids certainly must have contributed to reduced Spanish forces within and about Santa Fe.
A decade later, in 1691 the Spanish would begin to return to
the territory, but they would not regain sufficient control for resettlement
until 1700.
The Painting
It would be difficult to have anything other than a pyramid design when a church is involved, especially San Miguel Mission with its front buttresses. Click here to view complete painting with details.
The viewer's eye moves immediately from the left traffic sign to the cross atop the structure and downwards again towards the bottom right (red arrows). Here the viewer's vision passes over and about the building to the right (Saint Michael's Dormitory). A circular motion is then created by the forward figure in blue within the central plaza, which forces the viewer's eye again to the center where the elderly couple are at the church door (blue arrow).
There are four anchors to the pyramid, the figure in blue, the couple entering the church (holding the bottom portion of the triangle down), the traffic sign and the cross atop the belfry. In the center of this is the window, the only item remaining of the original exterior.
This painting was completed in oil colors, with the canvas measuring 48 inches in width by 24 inches in height.
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The Painting
The Pyramid
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| Eye-Movement Around Mission Structure |
The viewer's eye moves immediately from the left traffic sign to the cross atop the structure and downwards again towards the bottom right (red arrows). Here the viewer's vision passes over and about the building to the right (Saint Michael's Dormitory). A circular motion is then created by the forward figure in blue within the central plaza, which forces the viewer's eye again to the center where the elderly couple are at the church door (blue arrow).
There are four anchors to the pyramid, the figure in blue, the couple entering the church (holding the bottom portion of the triangle down), the traffic sign and the cross atop the belfry. In the center of this is the window, the only item remaining of the original exterior.
This painting was completed in oil colors, with the canvas measuring 48 inches in width by 24 inches in height.
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Comments? Questions? Corrections? Any feedback at all? Just click on the comments box at the bottom of this page and enter your thoughts. All comments are welcome.
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