Cuernavaca: The Church Frescoes

view of Cuernavaca cathedral

In the winter of 1529, the Franciscans moved into their rudimentary mission here, founded on a hilltop opposite the still unfinished Palace of Cortés. Almost five hundred years later, this enhanced religious landmark still serves Cuernavaca, now as its cathedral, whose magnificent tower is visible across the city.    

  

Cuernavaca cathedral.  the north door;  Aztec skull below the atrium cross

But despite its high, sunny location and attractive tree-shaded churchyard, the monastery retains a brooding 16th century aura. Images of sacrifice and death strike a chilling note throughout its precincts. These themes resound across the broad range of murals on display throughout the church and convento, but especially those in the church of The Assumption itself—one of the most exotic and unique cycle of frescoes in Mexico. 
   In the 1950s the new Bishop of Cuernavaca, Sergio Mendez Arceo, initiated sweeping changes to the interior of the church, renovations in line with the recommendations of the Second Vatican Council. This program, or limpieza as the bishop termed it, involved removal of the many old altarpieces and santos resting along the nave, a controversial process that led to the fortuitous discovery of whitewashed murals on the walls behind.

The Church Murals 

Japan was initially evangelized by Portuguese Jesuits as early as 1549, and flourished under the rule of the supreme warlord Nobunaga.  Spanish Franciscans followed in 1593, proselytizing in public and setting up as bitter rivals to the Jesuits, which angered Hideyoshi, the succeeding warlord, who had ordered a ban on Catholic missionaries some 10 years earlier.
   In October, 1596, a rich Spanish merchantman, sailing from Manila bound for Acapulco, was blown off course by a typhoon and forced to take refuge in a Japanese port. On board was a Mexican Franciscan, Brother Philip of Jesus, who was on his way to Mexico to be ordained. 
   Seized by suspicious warlords, he was sent with 25 other Christians, including six Franciscans and some Jesuits, to the court of Hideyoshi. Interrogated, mutilated and condemned as spies and heretics, the group was sent on a harrowing winter march to a hill outside Nagasaki to suffer the agony of crucifixion. Philip quickly succumbed. Although an accidental martyr he became revered as San Felipe de Jesús, the first Mexican born saint. 
   In the 1950s, as workmen stripped the centuries of accumulated furnishings from the cathedral to prepare for its renovation, fresco fragments suddenly came to light beneath the layers of dirt and whitewash. As the work proceeded. the scale and extent of the murals astounded the researchers. The discovery caused a sensation, creating almost overnight a national shrine to San Felipe.

Cuernavaca cathedral murals

Probably painted in the 1620s, these dramatic murals retell the story of the twenty-six Japanese Martyrs of Nagasaki in grisly detail. But why should the story of San Felipe have been told here in Cuernavaca? 
   By the end of the 16th century, the Spiritual Conquest of Mexico had been accomplished and the friars turned their attention to more distant lands, where the teeming islands of Asia including Japan and the recently explored Philippines presented new evangelical challenges. 
   The rambling monastery at Cuernavaca became the colonial gateway to the orient, the last staging post between Mexico City and the port of Acapulco. Here the friars prepared for the arduous missionary task, from which many would not return, including perhaps Philip himself. For the Franciscans, Philip of Jesus personified this spirit of selfless sacrifice, whose greatest reward was the martyr's crown.
   As in other Franciscan mural cycles, the glory of the Order through its history of many martyrs is a prime concern, as evidence the presence in the frescoes of other prominent Japanese Franciscan martyrs including ambassador Fray Juan Bautista, Fr Bartolomé Gutierrez and Fr. Bartolomé Laurel. 

These narrative frescoes are among the most ambitious, most complete and most original cycles of murals in colonial Mexico. They are also among the last, since by the early 1600s most murals were being whitewashed to make way for wooden altarpieces as the preferred medium for church embellishment and instruction.

 

Arrival of the martyrs by boat, details

Originally covering both sides of the nave along its entire length—75 feet long by 25 feet high—the murals were painted by an unknown artist in vivid blues, greens and warm earth colors—a far broader spectrum than the monochromatic murals in the convento.  Although now believed to be the work of native Mexican artists, the striking compositions show an Asian influence. The figures exhibit a flatness, strength of line and apparently authentic Japanese costuming and weaponry. 

The progress of the martyrs to their martyrdom unfolds on the walls in full and vivid detail. Stages in the journey are shown, by cart, on foot and by boat from the coast, through the cities of Kyoto, Osaka and Sakai, and then to the place of execution and crucifixion at Nagasaki. 

 

Schools of fanciful sea creatures swim among the boats and around the arches of the doorway, lightening the grim imagery of the narrative scenes. 

Despite their oriental feeling—the graphic source for this cycle of murals may have been the illustrated chronicle, Evangelization of the Philippines and Japan, published in 1601—in their draftsmanship and decorative detail they are clearly the work of a native Mexican artist.

text © 2018  Richard D. Perry

color images by the author, ELTB and courtesy of Carolyn Brown
Others in our series on the murals of Cuernavaca cathedral: The Church Frescoes; The Open Chapel mural; The Spiritual Lineage; The Crucifixion;