which, when dry', is painted to represent a skirt. The 

 apron-like design that appears on the skirt, now hidden 

 under a black dress, indicates that the original identity 

 probably was "Our Lady of Solitude" {Nuestra Senora 

 dc la Soledad) ."^ 



Also on the left side of the east morada altar, there 

 are two male saints [santos) who fill vital roles in the 

 penitcntc Easter drama. One. St. Peter (San Pedro) 

 with the cock (Figure 41), is a bulto whose frame 

 construction duplicates that of Our Lady (Figure 40) . 

 The cock apparently was made by another hand, and. 

 despite its replaced tail, is a fine expression of local art. 

 This group represents Peter's triple denial of Jesus 

 before the cock announced dawn of the day of the 

 Crucifixion. The bulto of San Pedro has special mean- 

 ing for pc7ntentes who, through their penance, bear 

 witness to "Jesus the Xazarene.'' 



With the other bulto. penitentes have also recalled 

 the crucifixion by representing .St. John the Evangelist 

 (San Juan I at the foot of the cross, where Jesus 

 charged the disciple with the care of His mother. The 

 image of John (Figure 421 bears distinctive stylistic 

 features: blunt fingers; protruding forehead, cheek 

 bones, and chin; and a full-lipped, open mouth. 



Since these stylistic traits also occur in a Crista figure 

 in the Taylor Museum collection '''■' and in two other 

 bultos — a Cristo and Jesus Xazareno in the south 

 morada at .^biquiu — it seems reasonable to designate 

 the anonymous image-maker as the ".'\biquiu morada 

 santero" 



A hulto that .Mice Henderson identifies as St. Joseph 

 is probably this figure of St. John (Figure 42) now rest- 

 ing in the east morada. She has reported that this 

 image and that of St. Peter were in the mission of 

 .Santo Tomas before 1919."° The shift in residence for 

 these santos was substantiated by Jose Espinosa, who 

 stated that several images "were removed to one of the 

 local moradas . . . when the old church was torn 

 down." '' 



On the right side of the east morada altar, images of 

 two male saints reflect the intense affection felt by 

 penitentes for the Franciscan saints Anthony of Padua 

 and John of Nepomuk. The most popular New Mexi- 



can saint, San Antonio (Figure 43) , customarily carries 

 the \oung Jesus, El Santo Nino. This image has been 

 painted dark blue to represent the traditional Francis- 

 can habit of New Mexico before the 1890s.'- 



The 14th-century saint, John of Nepomuk, Bohemia 

 (Figure 44) , is known from a legend that states he was 

 killed by King WencesJaus for refusing to reveal secrets 

 of the Queen, for whom he was confessor. The story 

 notes that, after torture, John was drowned in the 

 Moldau River, but that his body floated all night and. 

 in the morning, was taken to the Church of the Holy 

 Cross of the Penitents in Prague. After the martyred 

 chaplain was canonized in 1729, his cult spread to 

 Rome, then Spain, and, by 1800, into New Mexico. 



.\mong the Hispanos, local Franciscans promoted 

 this cult of St. John as a prognosticator and as a respec- 

 ter of secrecy."- Due in part to this promotion, San 

 Juan Nepomuceno became a favorite of New Mexican 

 penitentes. E. Boyd suggests that the image of St. John 

 (Figure 44) may have first represented St. Francis 

 or .St. Joseph. She also notes a stylistically similar bulto 

 of St. Joseph in Colorado Springs, manufactured not 

 long after 1825.'^ 



Oratory in South Morada. — Turning to the south 

 morada chapel, we find numerous parallels to the ear- 

 lier east morada in santo identities and in religious 

 artifacts. (Figure 10 presents a previously unphoto- 

 graphed view of this active penitente chapel with its 

 fully equipped altar.) The walls of the west chamber 

 of the south morada are lined with benches over which 

 hang religious prints in frames of commercial plaster 

 and local tinwork (Figure 45) . 



The tin frame for a lithograph of St. Peter reveals 

 repousse designs found on east morada frames (Figure 

 30, center) . Other examples of local tinwork are seen 

 in Figure 46. On the right is a cross of punched tin- 

 work with pomegranate ends and corner fillers that 

 reflect Moorish characteristics in Spanish arts known as 

 mudejar. The frame dates from after 1850. as indicated 

 by glass panes painted with floral patterns suggesting 

 Victorian wallpaper. To the left is a niche made of 

 six glass panels painted with wa\7 lines and an early 

 19th-century woodcut of the Holy Child of Atocha. 



68. Boyd. loc. cit. Regarding construction, see E. Boyd, 

 "New Mexican Bultos with Hollow Skirts: How They Were 

 Made," El Palacio, vol. LVIH. no. 5 ('May. 1951 ), pp. '45^ 

 148. 



69. Wilder and Breitenbach. pis. 24, 25. 



70. Henderson, p. 26. 



7 1 . Josr Espinosa. op. cit.. p. 75. 



72. Domi'nguez, Misiiuns. p. 264 (ftn. 59) . The brown robe 

 worn by Franciscans today is a late 19th-century innovation. 



73. Boyd, Saints, p. 133. 



74. Boyd, in litt., Nov. 13, 1965. For a comparauvc illus- 

 tration of St. Joseph, see Wilder and Breitenbach, pi. 42. 



P.\PER 63: THE PENITENTE MORADAS OF ABIQUlO 



139 



