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KIVA
Journal of Southwestern Anthropology and History
ISSN: 0023-1940 (Print) 2051-6177 (Online) Journal homepage: https://www.tandfonline.com/loi/ykiv20
A Tale of Two Saints at San Xavier del Bac
Emily Umberger
To cite this article: Emily Umberger (2019) A Tale of Two Saints at San Xavier del Bac, KIVA,
85:2, 134-160, DOI: 10.1080/00231940.2019.1591063
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/00231940.2019.1591063
Published online: 10 Apr 2019.
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A Tale of Two Saints at San Xavier del
Bac*
Emily Umberger
Emerita of University of Arizona, umberger@email.arizona.edu
In the late eighteenth century, after the expulsion of the Jesuit Order from
the Pimería Alta, the Franciscan missionaries who replaced them built a
new church at the native settlement of Wa:k (Bac), near Tucson, Arizona.
Despite rivalry between these orders, the Franciscans retained the Jesuit
name of the place, San Xavier del Bac, and moved the sculpture of the
titular saint, Francis Xavier, from the high altar of the old church to that
of the new church. In the Catholic Church, the high altar was the conven-
tional location of the titular saint and a second image of the saint could
be featured on the church façade. However, photographs of the Bac
façade reveal the image of the founder of the Franciscan Order, Francis of
Assisi, in the honored facade position. This essay reviews the historical situ-
ation that led to this unconventional juxtaposition of saints, and explores the
logic behind the Franciscan retention of Jesuit components in their icono-
graphic program.
En el siglo dieciocho tarde, después de la expulsion de los jesuitas del
Pimería Alta, los misioneros franciscanos quienes los replacieron con-
struieron una iglesia nueva en el poblado indigeno de Wa:k (Bac), cerca
de Tucson, Arizona. A pesar de rivalidad entre los dos ordenes, los francis-
canos retenieron el nombre jesuito del lugar, San Xavier del Bac, y movieron
la escultura del santo títular, Francisco Xavier, del altar mayor de la iglesia
vieja hasta el altar mayor de la nueva. En la Iglesia Católica, el altar major
estaba el lugar proprio del santo títular, y tal vez una figura del mismo
santo puedó destacadose en la fachada. No obstante, fotos del fachada
de Bac revela la imagen de Francisco de Asís, el fundador del orden francis-
cano en la fachada. Esto ensayo reexamina las circunstáncias históricas que
resultaron en esa yuxtaposición de santos honrados en una iglesia monás-
tica. Tambián explora la lógica del programa franciscano iconográfico.
* Wa:k is the native name for the settlement, and San Xavier del Bac is the name of the church. Bac is a Spanish corrup-
tion of Wa:k.
kiva, Vol. 85 No. 2, June, 2019, 134–160
Copyright © 2019 Arizona Archaeological and Historical Society.
All rights reserved.
DOI 10.1080/00231940.2019.1591063
keywords Southwest missions, Church iconography, US-Mexico Border,
Franciscan order, Jesuit order, Jesuit expulsion, Pimería Alta, Sobaipuris/
Tohono O’odham
In 1880, Father Jean Baptiste Salpointe (1880:17) identified the now eroded figure at
the top of the façade of the Franciscan mission church of San Xavier del Bac
(Figure 1A) as Francis of Assisi, the founder of the Franciscan Order. This was gen-
erally accepted until 2004 when Yvonne Lange (Lange and Ahlborn 2004:72–73)
argued that it represented the Jesuit saint Francis Xavier (see also Fontana
2006:9–10; Fontana and McCain 2010:30–31). Francis Xavier was the titular
saint of the earlier Jesuit church at the O’odham village of Wa:k, and the Franciscans
who replaced the Jesuits in 1767, first came to Wa:k in 1768, and built the new
church continued to honor him as titular saint. They also moved his sculpted
image to the high altar of the new church. Lange and Ahlborn’s revised identification
of the façade figure was based solely on Catholic convention, wherein the principal
saint on the façade likewise is supposed to represent the titular figure (Anderson
1979:22).
1
They considered this a matter of Canon Law and therefore inviolable,
although, as will be seen, it is not.
It is difficult to know precisely what Salpointe saw, as his text is vague on this
point. He arrived in the Tucson area in 1866, when the figure’s headless upper
body was still in place. By 1880, when his book was published, the figure had dis-
integrated greatly, perhaps to the point that only the lower body remained. Regard-
less of when he viewed the figure, however, one identifying trait was visible
figure 1. Henry Cheever Pratt, 1852. (A) Drawing of Bac mission church. (B) Closeup of
façade figure. John Russell Bartlett Collection, JRB019, 1852.07.19. Courtesy of the John
Carter Brown Library at Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 135
throughout his tenure: the hanging end of the cord belt distinctive of the Franciscan
habit. This trait was still visible until 1974 when the remains of the figure were
covered with cement (Fontana and McCain 2010:figure 2.3, 30; Fontana
2015:52–53).
2
As will be seen, photographs taken between 1868 and 1900 show the stages of the
figure’s disintegration and later photos reveal its repair in the first decade of the
twentieth century. All show remains of the Franciscan habit of St. Francis of
Assisi, not that of the titular saint Francis Xavier. This unusual arrangement resulted
from a unique historical event: the expulsion of the Jesuit Order by the Bourbon
Spanish ruler, Charles III, from his Spanish possessions in 1767, and their replace-
ment by the Franciscans in the area of Sonora and Arizona, the Pimería Alta and
Baja.
3
The Franciscans arrived at Wa:k in 1768 and retained the Jesuit name of
the location and mission church for several reasons—primarily the longevity of
the association of place and name, and the appropriateness of that association.
The location in the Santa Cruz Valley was considered essential to the further expan-
sion of Christian civilization, in both Jesuit and Franciscan times. In addition, the
Jesuit saint, Francis Xavier, was the symbol to all Catholics, including Franciscans,
of missionary work beyond Europe. On a practical level, it was essential to the newly
arrived Franciscan padres that the religious ideas taught by the Jesuits to the native
neophytes, and the associated objects, be preserved for the sake of continuity and to
avoid confusion (Lange and Ahlborn 2004:138). The result was an ingenious icono-
graphic arrangement in which Jesuit artworks were incorporated into a Franciscan
framework. It was not so much a juxtaposition of the two orders, as it was a con-
vergence that preserved the basic tenets of the Christian religion as seen in the
Jesuit church, while presenting Franciscan ideas as a logical outgrowth. Aspects
common to both orders and familiar to the native congregation were placed in
the nave and sanctuary—areas visible upon entrance—while the specifically Francis-
can themes were placed in the transept and on the façade. At the same time, specific
references to the Jesuits were muted. What the Franciscans did not anticipate, of
course, were the confusions created by their program. In modern times, these
involved the conflation of the two saints on a popular level (Griffith 1992:
Chapter 3), and, on a scholarly level, an overemphasis on the Jesuit contributions
without understanding how the diverse elements were melded into a comprehensive
program.
Background
When Wa:k was first visited by Kino, it was a large native settlement occupied by the
Sobaipuri, a Piman or O’odham group. As Augustine Donohue (1960:127–128)
explained, “From his first knowledge of it in 1691, Bac singularly attracted Kino
…” and he “…named it in honor of his missionary model, St. Francis Xavier.
Bac he saw as the center of the Santa Cruz River Valley and as a gateway to the
Gila Valley through which he intended to travel to the peninsula of California.”
Because of its agricultural richness, Kino realized that the Santa Cruz Valley could
support such expansions into these dryer areas. Eventually, he envisioned Wa:k as
136 EMILY UMBERGER
a place to which he could move his headquarters from Nuestra Señora de los Dolores
de Cosari farther south (Bolton 1936:especially 329–333, 502–510; McCarty
1977:42).
4
In 1700 he began construction of a European-style church (McCarty
1977:43), but since he left the village soon after, questions remain as to whether
he finished it. Seymour (2019) argues that he probably did. Later, the Bac mission
suffered from general neglect for forty-five years. Padres visited sporadically or
resided there for short periods but left because of frequent Apache attacks and/or
ill health (Donahue 1960). None had the means to fulfill Kino’s vision. In 1751
the mission still had only modest structures for Christian worship—a ramada and
“wretched house”(Sedelmayr 1751; translation in Fontana 2015:8).
5
Finally, between 1756 and 1765, Bac was assigned a resident father, Alfonso Espi-
nosa, who managed to build a larger church there. This church was on the Santa
Cruz River, according to both native oral history and archaeological remains
(Seymour 2011, 2019; also see Bucher 1936; Stoner 1937).
6
It was likely a simple
adobe hall church with a flat wooden ceiling and no transept (Officer
et al.1996:92). Despite its modest exterior, it housed fine artworks imported from
workshops in Central Mexico. These objects are listed in the Jesuit inventories of
1765 and 1768 (Fontana 2015:12–14. For these and other inventories and refer-
ences to art works, see Kessell 1970:194–205 and Ahlborn 1974:120, n31 and
33). Principal among them were two processional sculptures dressed in real clothing,
one being St. Francis Xavier and the other being Mary as the Virgin of Sorrows,
7
as
well as three paintings in gold frames. There were also richly embroidered vestments
worn by fathers presiding over Mass and other church services, and sacred acces-
sories of silver and gold—vessels, plates, bells, candlesticks, monstrances, incense
boats, and such.These too were created in Central Mexico. The padres carried
with them such vestments, vessels, altars, and other equipment required for the
Mass in places without churches (Bolton 1936:265, 272).
The 1768 inventory also revealed the basic layout of Espinosa’s church. There were
three altars. Two featured the processional figures: Francis Xavier on the altar mayor,
and the Virgin on one side altar. On the third altar the inventory mentioned no sculp-
tures, but rather a variety of sacred paraphernalia and prints of unnamed subjects, all
seemingly unarranged. On the walls flanking the altar mayor two paintings depicted
the parents of Christ; the location of a third painting depicting Francis Xavier was not
given.
8
Visualizations like these paintings, sculptures, and prints had always been con-
sidered necessary for Catholic teaching (Rodríguez 2009). The Jesuit church had
sculptures and paintings but apparently lacked narrative scenes like those depicted
in murals in the later Franciscan church, so the stories that called for such depictions
would have been delivered orally with the aid of prints.
9
During his first visit to Bac Kino used a map in this fashion to introduce the mis-
sionary project to his native audience. Characterizing the missionaries as spiritual
descendants of Christ’s Apostles in the Holy Land, he traced their route from
Spain to Central Mexico, then Sonora, and finally Wa:k (Bolton 1936:268–269;
McCarty 1977:42). Pointing to Spain, he told of the Apostle St. James’conversion
of the early Spaniards. Moving to the New World, he described his home mission at
Delores de Cosari, emphasizing its spacious church and artworks as well as the food
and other advantages available to his native neophytes.
10
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 137
Unfortunately for the Jesuits in 1767, less than ten years after Espinosa’s imported
artworks arrived at Bac, Charles III expelled the Jesuit Order and transferred the Bac
mission to friars from the Franciscan Colegio in Queretaro.
The New Franciscan Church
The first Franciscan at Bac, Francisco Tomás Hermenegildo Garcés, arrived in 1768
and was the resident missionary there until 1779. Either he repaired the Jesuit
church for use by the native congregation, or he built another, temporary structure.
Presumably, he continued to use the art works left by the Jesuits to further the reli-
gious education of the native congregation. Joining Garcés in 1776, Fray Juan Bau-
tista Velderrain was assigned to build the monumental church that still stands at the
site. Velderrain was already experienced in construction, having built the church at
Suaqui further south in the years 1774 and 1775 (Kessell 1976:127, n9; Officer et al.
1996:92; Hernández Serrano 2011,2012). His first years at Bac were occupied with
planning the new structure. Documents remaining from the Suaqui project reveal the
architectural advances available by this time, as well as the effects of Bourbon
control over the economics of construction (Hernández Serrano 2011,2012), and
the increased professional training of builders, in contrast to the amateur
missionary-builders of Jesuit times. Under the direction of Velderrain, the principals
in charge of actual construction were an architect and a carpenter, and their workers
were also trained in their various skills. Documents written in 1774 include contrac-
tual agreements with detailed measurements, specifications, costs, and deadlines. All
were addressed to government administrators.
11
Among architectural advances were new materials and technologies. Fired bricks
plus lime mortar and plaster strengthened the construction and protected it from
the effects of water. Kiln-fired bricks replaced sun-dried adobes in parts that needed
greater strength and stability. Given the scarcity of wood in the area and its use in
mining, shaped fired bricks were also used to form columns and retablos—large archi-
tectural screens covering walls above altars and with niches for saintly figures. Like-
wise, figures made as part of the architecture itself (e.g., the façade figure) had brick
cores. Plaster was used to cover interior and exterior architectural forms and to clothe
the locally made brick sculptures as well as imported wood sculptures.
Although no documents remain from the Bac construction, evidence that Velder-
rain followed similar procedures as he had at Suaqui is seen in the physical remains.
The date that building commenced is a matter of debate (Officer et al. 1996:92;
Fontana 1996:22–23). Velderrain seems to have spent several years in preparation
before construction commenced, probably by 1883 at the latest. Although Fray
Garcés was often absent on exploratory trips in the surrounding territory, he
helped Velderrain with judicial procedures (Hernández Serrano 2011:107). He
probably helped plan the iconographic program as well, given the eight years
before Velderrain’s arrival that he preached to the Sobaipuri and continued ceremo-
nial practices within the context of the Jesuit remains. After Garcés left for Yuma in
1779, Velderrain carried on for another eleven years. He died in 1790, leaving the
new structure near completion but mostly undecorated. The detailed description
138 EMILY UMBERGER
of the church by its first official visitor, Fray Francisco Iturralde in 1797 (McCarty
1977:46–47), corresponds with the decorations of the present church, indicating its
completed state by this date.
The church was built on high ground to the south of Espinosa’s church, a location
that eliminated the problem of flooding from the river and provided a stable base for
their ambitious construction. Even among other churches built during the same
decades, Bac stood out. In 1804 Captain José Zuñiga, commander of the Tucson
presidio, explained its specialness. “The reason for the ornate church at this last
outpost of the frontier is not only to congregate Christian Pimas of the San
Xavier village, but also to attract by its sheer beauty the unconverted Papagos
[Tohono O’odham] and Gila Pimas beyond the frontier”(McCarty 1977:49). In
other words, the Franciscans envisioned the same future for Bac that Kino had, as
the headquarters from which future mission chains emanated. It is not a coincidence
that Garcés was exploring these same areas.
Unfortunately, so far no written or material evidences indicate where Velderrain’s
contribution ended and where Llorens’began. The brick niches for sculptures built
into the walls and retablos seem to indicate that the iconographic program was
planned at the beginning of construction, and that the sculptures formed the frame-
work of the program. After that, the dates when the imported sculptures were
ordered and installed at Bac, when painters, plasterers, and sculptors trained in
Mexico were active at the church, and when local artists completed the painting
and plastering, are unknown. The intensive material studies that could help deter-
mine the chronology of work at the church are yet to be done.
Jesuit and Franciscan Clothing at Bac
Because the façade figure’s clothing is key to its identity, a necessary preliminary is
the study of Jesuit and Franciscan dress. On the altar mayor, the Jesuit Francis
Xavier wears a black cassock covered by the white surplice and stole of a priest
(Figure 2A). The biretta on his head is the sign of a scholar or other high church offi-
cial. Surplices and birettas were worn by members of the secular clergy as well as
members of the religious orders in their roles as priests. Thus, it can be said that
aside from its black color, the cassock presently worn by the Xavier figure does
not look particularly Jesuit. It lacks the buttons distinctive of the Jesuit habit,
either on fitted sleeves or running down the front. The original cassock would
have had these features, but they would have been obscured by the vestments
over them.
12
Xavier’s clothing is thus that of a priestly churchman, without reference
to his order. The biretta also hides the non-Franciscan hairdo of the sculpture (Fran-
ciscans had tonsured cuts).
The only figure in the church wearing a Jesuit habit is Ignatius Loyola, the founder
of the Jesuit Order (Figure 2B), who is among the small figures occupying niches in
the transept chapels. Ignatius’Jesuit habit is clearly recognizable in its black color,
tight sleeves buttoned at the wrists, plain belt at the waist, and long cape hanging
from the shoulders down the back. Both sides of the cape are visible from the
front; on the proper left side it is looped in a swirl around the arm. Most of the
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 139
small transept figures wear the habits of their orders and, with the exception of Igna-
tius and one other figure, are Franciscans. The other non-Franciscan is St. Dominic,
the founder of the Dominican Order. Images of the founders of orders, usually other
than the one that built a church, were characteristically acknowledged in Mexican
mission churches.
13
Like Xavier, Francis of Assisi is also featured in a large figure on the interior of the
church, but above the Gospel Transept Altar (Figure 3A). He wears the Franciscan
habit, but his greater importance than the figures around him is emphasized by fine
carving and the estofado painting of his clothing, as well as his greater size.Estofado
is the technique that renders the patterns of expensive, embroidered textiles with
applied gold leaf and polychrome paint (Proske 1967;Kasl1993; Bray 2009).
This technique could have been produced only by a specialist working in collabor-
ation with the carver in a Central Mexican city. In other words, the figure was
imported as a finished product.
14
As was typical of fine, late eighteenth-century Mexican sculptures, Assisi is in a con-
trapposto pose
15
and turns to his left to stare into the distance, as if arrested by what-
ever he is seeing. Emphasizing this movement, the folds of his overgarment form a
figure 2. Jesuit saints at Bac: (A). Unknown Mexican artists, St Francis Xavier, before 1759,
wooden processional sculpture dressed in real vestments. (B) St Ignatius Loyola, wooden
body carved in central Mexico, clothed in plaster and painted at Bac. Umberger photos
2006 and 2018.
140 EMILY UMBERGER
series of diagonal lines extending from the right foot to the left hip. In addition, the
hem of an overgarment forms a stepped line at a similar angle. His rope belt is also
pronounced, with a looped section at waist level and the dangling end falling parallel
to a fabric fold. Two traits distinguish thissculpture from all other saints in the church,
large and small: the stigmata (wounds) marking his hands, feet, and side (Ahlborn
1974:72–73, including an image of the stigmata on one foot) and the remains of a
cross-shaped halo or nimbus.
16
Both features emphasize the saint’s identification
with Christ. The stigmata indicate that Francis shared the pain of Christ’s suffering
on the cross. He received the stigmata from a small flying image of Christ on the
Cross, the Seraphic Christ (Figure 4). Like the rope and the bare feet, these wounds
are a crucial aspect of his identity, as they represent the values that he and his order
espoused—Christlike humility, poverty, and self-sacrifice.
17
The cross-shaped
nimbus further emphasizes the saint’s closeness to the crucified Christ as it is otherwise
worn only by members of the Holy Family.
In contrast to the precious material of his habit, most of the small Franciscans
wear everyday brown habits with short painted dashes conveying the idea of
rough cloth (Figure 3B).
18
A different type of variation is seen in the two Franciscans
flanking the figure of the Nazarene Christ on the lower level of the Gospel Retablo
(e.g., Figure 3C). These two are like the Xavier figure in being dressed in church
figure 3. Franciscan saints at Bac. (A) Unknown Central Mexican artists, St. Francis of
Assisi, late-eighteenth century, carved wood with estofado painting of robes and encarna-
ción painting of skin. (B). Unknown artists in Central Mexico and at Bac, St. Bernardino of
Feltres, small Franciscan saint, late eighteenth century, wooden body carved in Mexico,
clothed in plaster and painted at Bac. Umberger photos 2005 and 2018. (C) Unknown
artists in Central Mexico and at Bac, St. Bonaventure, one of two Franciscans wearing vest-
ments. Umberger photo 2005.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 141
vestments rather than Franciscan habits, but as with the other small figures, their
vestments were made of plaster at the church and then painted.
Visual Evidence of the Façade Figure’s Appearance
As stated at the outset, images help reconstruct the appearance of the façade sculpture
before 1974 when it was covered. Only one image, a drawing by Henry Cheever Pratt,
pictures the sculpture before the head disappeared (Figure 1A and B). As Fontana
stated (2006:2), “the sketch seems to have been made with almost engineering-like
precision, and there is the strong likelihood it is an accurate representation.”Acom-
parison of the sketch with early photographs (e.g., Figure 5A and B) supports this
assessment in that the left hand is raised to the chest and the right is at waist level.
For this reason, we should take the rendering of the head in Figure 1B seriously. Of
particular interest is the circular form around it. This image gives no evidence of
the figure’s religious order, but it may indicate that the figure was wearing a solid
nimbus like the one on the St. Francis of Assisi figure on the interior.
Sixteen years later, in 1868, Carlo Gentile took the earliest surviving photos
showing the then headless figure.
19
There are at least three shots in a photo
album in the Library of Congress.
20
Very similar to Gentile’s photos is a close-up
of a photograph taken in 1871 by Timothy O’Sullivan (Figure 5). A fifth photograph
was taken by Henry Buehman sometime between 1874 and 1880 (Arizona Histori-
cal Society, Tucson, Stereo views, photo numbers 102118 and 102119). These early
photographs document the disintegration of the upper body. In Gentile’s photos, the
head is already gone, but both shoulders and part of the stand-up collar are visible.
figure 4. Unknown mural painter at Bac, Assisi receiving the Stigmata, in the church
cupola. Umberger photo 2018.
142 EMILY UMBERGER
In the O’Sullivan photo, the collar is gone, and in the Buehman photo, the right
shoulder and arm have disappeared as well. The rest of the upper body disappeared
by 1880, when Carlton Watkins photographed the façade (illustration in Fontana
2015:39, bottom right).
21
The sculpture is not visible in photos from the 1880s, but appears in photographs
by Albert Reynolds in the 1890s, the latest being from 1899.
22
A view almost iden-
tical to one of Reynolds’s shots is in a photograph of 1902 published by the Detroit
Photographic Company (Figure 6A and B). Here the body is disintegrated to a point
below waist level, a loss that includes the belt and upper part of the skirt. The figure
remained in the same condition until Bishop Henry Granjon’s major restoration of
1906–1909 (Fontana 2015:43, photo in lower right corner).
23
A photograph taken after that by Charl Egginton in 1928
24
(Figure 7A and B) reveals
the restoration of the waist area withthe addition of a thin belt and a rounded top, prob-
ably plaster. This rebuilt area is visible in all known images from after 1906 and before
1974. One might guess that it was added during Bishop Granjon’s restoration. As Jean
Giliberto has observed (email to the author, March 22, 2018), the lighter color of the
repaired area is like Granjon’s plastering in other areas. The earliest dated image
known to me that shows this repair is the frontispiece of Estelle Lutrell’sbook
(1922).
25
Later photographs of importance were taken by Donald Dickensheets in
1940 (Figure 8A and B). 8A shows the front of the figure, as is in the 1928 photo; 8B
is the only known view of the back. Lange and Ahlborn (2004:72–73 and figures
figure 5. Timothy O’Sullivan, 1871, (A) The Bac church. (B) Close-up of façade figure. The
stand-up collar present in Gentile’s earlier photo is now gone. A black spot on the hand may
be the Stigmata. Shadows on the left hip may be the looped part of the belt. Prints and
Photographs, Wheeler Survey, Lot 9274, Reproduction Number LC USz62-37994. The original
negative is in the National Archives, BAE-159 stereo. Courtesy of the Library of Congress,
Washington D.C.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 143
3.45a and b) read the latter view as revealing a long cloak hanging from the shoulders of
the figure to the ground. However, the photograph of the front of the figure from the
same date indicates that the upper part of the body was missing by this time,
meaning that the back view also lacked the upper body. In other words, the textile is
the skirt of the habit hanging from the waist, not a cloak.
In addition to this misreading of the Dickensheets’s photo, Lange and Ahlborn read
the diagonal line of folds visible on the front of the figure as the hem of the same cloak.
Since they were looking at a blurrier version of the O’Sullivan photo, they couldn’tsee
that the folds emanated from below the belt visible in a more focused version
(Figure 5B) and were part of an overskirt like the one worn by the large sculpture
of the Franciscan Francis of Assisi on the interior (Figure 3A). Another faulty assump-
tion was that only Jesuits wore capes. It is true that Jesuits commonly wore capes with
their habits and that in the eighteenth century these could be wrapped around the
front of the figure, as in the image of Ignatius Loyola (Figure 2B). However, Francis-
cans also wore cloaks, as seen in numerous examples at Bac (e.g., Figure 3B). The
cloak then cannot be considered a diagnostic trait of the Jesuit habit (nor the Francis-
can habit, for that matter), and nothing points to a Jesuit affiliation.
The drawing in Figure 9 is a hypothetical reconstruction of the sculpture based on the
combined data of the photographs. The trait that identifies the figure as the Franciscan
Francis is the cord hanging from the belt, which is visible inboth early and latephotos.
Shadowy lines on the left hip in the photos by Gentile and O’Sullivan (Figure 5B) may be
figure 6. (A) Detroit Photographic Company, 1902. Church façade. (B) Closeup of figure.
Prints and Photographs, Lot 9052 (21), Reproduction Number LC-USz62-37994. Courtesy
of the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
144 EMILY UMBERGER
the remains of abelt loop like the one on the interior Assisi sculpture (Figure 3A), and a
black spot on one hand in the O’Sullivan shot may represent the Stigmata. These last
two observations are less certain, and require further study of magnified views. Also,
the fullness of the sleeve seen on the left arm is Franciscan (Jesuit sleeves are fitted to
figure 8. Donald Dickensheets, 1940, Historic American Building Survey (HABS). (A) front
of façade figure. (B) Back of figure. Prints and Photographs, HABS ARIZ10-TUCSO.V3-20 and
21 (close-ups). Courtesy of the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
figure 7. Charl Egginton, 1928, close-up of upper façade, with figure as it appeared after
1906–1909 and the Franciscan escudo (coat-of-arms) below the figure. Prints and Photographs,
Lot 9282, Reproduction Number: LC-DIG-ds-06847. Courtesy of the Library of Congress.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 145
the lower arm). The right sleeve is difficult to make out. It may be the opening from
which the other hand emerges. Unfortunately, the head and original colors did not
survive. Even without these, the similarities between the façade sculpture and the
large image of the Franciscan Francis on the interior indicate that they represent
the same personage. In fact, the imported sculpture on the interior was probably the
model for the façade figure and both represent Francis of Assisi.
The Incorporation of Jesuit Sculptures and Layout
The principal question remaining is how the Franciscans made sense of this hybrid mix
of Jesuit and Franciscan parts in their layout (Figures 10 and 11A,B,andC). Here I
focus especially on the sculptures in the nave and transept and the two paintings in
the nave, which together form the framework of the arrangement created by Velderrain
and Garcés.
The long north-south axis running from the entrance to the altar mayor in the
Sanctuary is presided over by the titular saint, the Jesuit St. Francis Xavier, while
the shorter east-west axis of the transept focuses on the Franciscan Francis. The
reused sculptures of Francis Xavier and the Virgin that anchored the program
figure 9. Hypothetical reconstruction of the original figure of St. Francis of Assisi (without
head). Umberger sketch 2018.
146 EMILY UMBERGER
were installed in the same positions that they had had in the old Jesuit church, as
noted before on the basis of historical documentation. Xavier was placed above
the altar mayor and the Virgin of Sorrows was placed above the altar on the
Epistle Side. Images representing the parents of Christ were placed in niches on
either side of the sanctuary, likewise in positions comparable to their locations in
the Jesuit church.
26
Significant iconographic changes are seen in the chapels at the
opposite ends of the transept. The transept itself was a new feature of the Franciscan
church adding more space for altars and retablos with niches.
On the Gospel side (Figure 11A) immediately above the altar is the figure of the
Nazarene Christ, Christ before the Crucifixion, and above him is the large figure
of the Franciscan Francis of Assisi. In the Epistle Chapel (Figure 11C), the Virgin
of Sorrows looks up at the Cross (Figure 12), which was originally occupied by
figure 10. Hypothetical reconstruction of original layout of the Franciscan Bac church.
Underlining indicates retained Jesuit elements (Joseph and Mary were Franciscan sculptural
replacements of Jesuit paintings in the comparable locations). Dashed frames indicate
sculptures probably removed from original position. Umberger diagram 2018.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 147
the crucified Christ. On both sides of the transept the surrounding niches are occu-
pied by small saints, mostly Franciscans.
Other additions to the ensemble were the saint figures and paintings in the nave.
The sculptures of Apostles, the first missionaries, form lines along the walls from the
entrance of the church to St. Francis Xavier, the first modern missionary. Behind
them are the murals picturing the events connecting them to Christ,
27
and by impli-
cation to later missionaries. On the Gospel side the Last Supper presents the final
meeting of the Apostles with Christ and the climactic moment when he explained
his impending death as prologue to resurrection and eternal life and introduced
the Sacrament of Communion that promised future salvation to his followers.
28
At Pentecost, represented in the painting on the Epistle side, the Apostles remaining
after the death of Christ are transformed into missionaries before setting out to
spread the message of salvation to the rest of the world. On Pentecost, they acquired
the Holy Spirit and the gift of “tongues”(foreign languages), with which they could
communicate with distant groups. Pentecost is the initiation of the missionary
project, while the Last Supper presents the complex of ideas fundamental to Cath-
olicism about salvation–the messages the missionaries carried.
29
Although the early church events appear not to have been visualized in permanent
form in the Jesuit church, the details of these events and the theme of apostolic suc-
cession were shared by Franciscans and Jesuits in the New World. They were first
expressed by the Franciscan missionaries in Central Mexico,
30
who considered
their project to be the refoundation of the early Christian church. This was five
decades before the arrival of the Jesuits whose commitment to the same concepts
is evident in Kino’s introduction to the Sobaipuri at Wa:k, when he used the map
to explain the descent of Christian missionaries from the first Apostles and their
travels to the New World.
Despite their reuse of the Jesuit layout, artworks, and shared themes, the Fran-
ciscans muted any specific references to the Jesuit order. They took advantage of
the priestly garb of the Jesuit saint on the high altar to obscure the Jesuit part of
his identity. The only saint dressed in a Jesuit habit is St. Ignatius Loyola, but his
image is small and it was placed outside the sanctuary and to the side of the
central axis. In addition, his pairing with St. Dominic, the founder of another
non-Franciscan order, was not an uncommon practice in eighteenth-century
churches (Anderson 1979:160), but at Bac it emphasizes his status as an
“outsider.”
Probable Nineteenth-century Rearrangement
It also seems possible that the Franciscans had originally placed two of their own
saints in the niches flanking Francis Xavier above the main altar. They are now
above the Gospel altar, and were replaced at some point by two apostles, I
believe. The two Franciscans are dressed in high church vestments, like those
worn by Xavier, instead of the habit of their own order. Also like Xavier, one of
them, St. Bonaventure (Figure 3C) wears a removable biretta, indicating his equal
importance in the Catholic Church; and a hole in the head of the other figure
148 EMILY UMBERGER
figure 11A. Gospel Chapel with Francis of Assisi (1) and the Nazarene Christ above the altar. An unnamed Franciscan
in vestments (2) and Franciscan St. Bonaventure (3), also in vestments, flank the Nazarene Christ. St. Dominic (4) is in
a niche above St. Joseph. Drawing by Deborah Reade. Courtesy of the artist.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 149
figure 11B. The Sanctuary with St. Francis Xavier (5) above the altar mayor and St. Ignatius Loyola (6) in niche close
to Sanctuary in the Epistle Chapel. Drawing by Deborah Reade. Courtesy of the artist.
150 EMILY UMBERGER
figure 11C. Epistle Chapel, with the Crucifixion (7) and the Virgin of Sorrows (8) above the altar Drawing by Deborah
Reade. Courtesy of the artist.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 151
may have been for a biretta as well. Also supporting the possibility that these figures
were originally in the sanctuary is the presence of the same headdresses topping the
outside columns of the retablo above. If the Franciscans put two of their own order
in the suggested positions, the effect was to obliterate the distinction between them-
selves and the Jesuit dedicatory saint, placing both within the higher context of the
Church of Rome.
How this juxtaposition of religious orders was received depended on the knowl-
edge of the viewers. Members of the native congregation were probably unaware of
religious differences between orders, if not in the first years of Franciscan presence,
certainly later. Among those who would have understood the differences were visit-
ing churchmen (and women), who could identify the sculptures by name and affilia-
tion (the two Franciscans were named on their bases). In fact, if there was a
reorganization as suggested here, it would have been performed by those with this
knowledge. I hypothesize that it occurred during the tenure of two Jesuits at the
church in the 1860s–that they removed the two high-status Franciscans from
the high altar and at the same time moved the figure of St. Ignatius Loyola, the
founder of the Jesuit Order, to the niche next to the sanctuary. Both proposed disrup-
tions would have had the same purpose: to remove the Franciscans from the sanc-
tuary and to move the Jesuit figure closer.
31
I also suggest that this rearrangement led to the modern over-emphasis by scholars
on St. Francis Xavier’s Jesuit affiliation. Indeed, although his name and identity as an
important missionary-explorer were retained, this affiliation seems to have been
intentionally muted by the Franciscans.
Overt Franciscan Symbolism
Crucial to the Franciscan part of the iconographic arrangement was the cruciform
plan of the church (Figure 10), a traditional reference to the Crucifixion and the
embodiment of Christ within the church (Blunt 1940:chapter 8, especially plate
11a). At Bac the Franciscans activated the symbolic implications of this plan in
the placement within it of motifs and figures to emphasize the close relationship
of Assisi to Christ. Although the missionary theme so relevant to the Jesuit Xavier
was also pertinent to the Franciscan missionaries in the New World, Assisi
himself was not a missionary. Rather, he was important in a different sense, in
that he lived his life in imitation of Christ, focusing on Christ’s self-sacrifice for
the sake of humankind—the subject of the Last Supper. The rest of the church
program further emphasizes Assisi’s union with Christ, through focusing on the
bloody wounds of crucifixion (the Stigmata) that united them. At Bac, the idea of
their shared suffering is also emphasized by an enlarged Franciscan cord that encom-
passes the whole interior like a belt and signals the conflation of Assisi with Christ as
church (as seen in the illustration in Blunt).
32
The principle depiction of Francis’s identification with Christ is in the transept,
where the sculpture of Assisi (Figure 3A) faces the Crucified Christ situated at the
opposite end of the transept (Figure 12). These two images are on the spots of the
crossbar where Christ’s hands had been nailed, and their relationship also recalls
152 EMILY UMBERGER
the most important event of Assisi’s life—the moment of his reception of the Stig-
mata from the Seraphic Christ. That this link was intended is made clear by the
small mural depicting the event, which is located at a spot on the dome midway
between them (Figure 4). At the same time, Assisi appears to be present at the Cru-
cifixion which he turns to with a gaze of astonishment.
33
The same idea of their link through the Crucifixion is depicted on the upper
facade even more explicitly but in the form of abstracted symbols rather than
full figures (Figure 13).
34
The now-damaged sculpture of Assisi at the top wears
the rope belt and possibly bears the Stigmata. Below him is the Franciscan
escudo (coat of arms) that forms the center of the composition (close-up in
Figure 7A). This coat of arms bears the crossed arms of Christ and Assisi nailed
to the cross. (Christ’s arm is naked and Assisi’s is clothed in the sleeve of his
habit), just as Assisi and the Crucifixion are above altars located on the spots of
the interior plan where Christ was nailed on the cross. The twisted cord above
them, like the cord around the church interior, reiterates the idea of their unity.
Other emblems refer to the Sacrament of Communion. The bread transformed
into Christ’s body is symbolized by the wheat plants held by a pair of lions
35
on
the far borders of the frontispiece, while the wine representing Christ’s blood is
referred to by the intertwined grape vines around the escudo and the monograms
of Christ and the Virgin. The use of these symbols in low relief above the door
figure 12. Donald Dickensheets, 1940 HABS, Crucifixion in the Epistle Chapel facing the
sculpture of Assisi in the Gospel Chapel at the same level; only the arm remains from the
Christ figure. Prints and Photographs, HABS ARIZ,10-TUCSO,V3-114 (close-up). Courtesy of
the Library of Congress, Washington D.C.
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 153
figure 13. Drawing of façade with sculpture of St. Francis of Assisi (1), the Franciscan coat of arms (2), and Franciscan
rope (3). Drawing by Deborah Reade. Courtesy of the artist.
154 EMILY UMBERGER
renders their meaning far from accessible to the majority of the native congregants,
as does the lack of focus on actual blood and suffering bodies. Thus, the full figures
of richly dressed early-church female martyrs on the lower part of the facade would
have attracted the congregation (see Umberger 2007:171), while the symbols on
the upper façade would have been comprehensible only to those conversant in
Franciscan symbolism.
The Question of Church Rules
Finally, we return to the question of whether the honoring of two different saints
went against Canon Law, as Lange and Ahlborn suggested. The answer is no;
such an arrangement was certainly unusual but it did not violate any known
church rule. Barbara Anderson (1979:chapter 1) made the distinction between
traditional customs and official pronouncements from the Church in her analysis
of treatises on church art dating from the Renaissance to the nineteenth century.
She concluded that rules like those published by the Council of Trent (1545–
1563) dealt with questions of idolatry, heresy, improprieties (lasciviousness,
nudity, excessive beauty, disrespect), and “factual”inaccuracies in individual
representations of saints and holy figures, but not their arrangement in churches.
Anderson also noted that pronouncements on art issued from the top of the
church hierarchy were usually vague and generalized (also see Blunt 1940).
Because there were so many contingencies behind arrangements in individual
churches, decisions about the particulars were left to local religious officials.
Anderson also noted that most prescribed rules were not written by church
representatives, but rather by theorists. Especially important is her characteriz-
ation of Xavier Barbier de Montault’swork(1878) as a summary of customary
practices in church arrangements, most of which did not originate in official
church pronouncements. Barbier de Montault’s merging of these two categories
in his text has caused general misunderstandings (Anderson 1979:33–41). So,
the deviant arrangement at Bac seems to be a local response to a complex his-
torical situation, a violation of custom, but not of a Church canon. William
Christian (2006) maintains a similar distinction between local and universal
practices, maintaining that local practices are the rule, not the exception. He
sees the situation in early modern times as comparable to legal thought of the
period—in that local custom (or circumstances, one might add) could trump uni-
versal law.
At Bac the friars in charge may have consulted with their superiors on the appar-
ent conflict between saints, but no documentation of such discussions has yet
appeared. It should be noted, finally, that the first official visitor to the new
church, Francisco Iturralde, the president of the Pimería missions, found nothing
problematic. Having inspected the buildings inside and out, sculptures and other
decorations, holy fixtures, sacramental and financial books, and vestments at Bac,
he “found everything in accord with the Roman Ritual.”He concluded: “In short
the entire operation here conforms to the approved method and directive of the
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 155
college,”meaning Franciscan headquarters in Queretaro (translated by McCarty
1977:41–42).
Conclusion
The preceding analysis leads to the conclusion that while the Franciscan church at
Wa:k was named for the Jesuit Francis Xavier, the titular saint of the earlier Jesuit
mission at the site, the statue on the façade represented Francis of Assisi, the Fran-
ciscan saint to whom the church was otherwise dedicated. This unusual violation of
church conventions was the result of a unique historical situation–the Spanish expul-
sion of the Jesuits and their replacement by the Franciscan Order. The Franciscans
retained the Jesuit images and ideas for the sake of continuity in the religious edu-
cation of their inherited native neophytes. However, using the language of
costume, size, and location of images, they muted references to the Jesuit Order in
their iconographic program.
Acknowledgments
I thank Father Greg Adolf, Luisa Elena Alcala, Barbara Anderson, Clara Bargel-
lini, Klint Erickson, Bernard Fontana, Gwen Isaac, Timothy Lewis, Kimberly
Mast, Jeremy Rowe, and Deni Seymour. I am especially grateful to Deni
Seymour for her direction and ideas, to Jean Giliberto for sharing her work on
photographic evidence of the disintegration of the figure before Bishop Sal-
pointe’s time, and to Aleta Ringlero for her work on the photos of the 1860s
and 1870s, the foundation of this essay. An appendix of photos relating to this
project will be published later.
Disclosure Statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.
Notes
1Anderson(1979:22) added that highlighted
façade figures could include holy figures and
the patron saint of a place, if the place was
named for a saint who was not the titular
saint.
2 The end of the hanging rope is still visible today
on the lower left (the proper lower-right side of
the figure) where the cement coat is lacking.
However, this has been damaged farther
through erosion.
3 For effects of the expulsion of the Jesuits on
Central Mexican churches (see Anderson 1979:
chapter 6).
4 References to McCarty are to translations of
primary sources.
5 According to Deni Seymour (2011,2019), the
“miserable house”was probably a church,
given the usual small size of church structures
in Jesuit times.
6 For different hypotheses on the location of the
Jesuit church (see Duell 1921:76, Building H on
plan; Fontana 1996:14).
7 Under the clothing, the lower bodies of proces-
sional sculptures consisted of light, wooden
frames. The clothing could change according to
the occasion.
156 EMILY UMBERGER
8 Among earlier artworks in Jesuit churches, Kino
mentioned a painting of Our Lady of Sorrows by
Juan Correa at his head church and the sculpture
of the Virgin of Remedies at Remedios (Bolton
1936:249–250, 255, 269, 272, 390–392). A
canvas painting, mentioned at Bac in a 1737
inventory represented “the Seraphic Francis”
(Kessell 1970:199), most likely Francis Xavier,
and possibly the painting mentioned in a late
inventory. The portraits of Mary and Joseph in
Espinosa’s church were said to have been
painted by Cabrera, either the famous
eighteenth-century Mexican painter Miguel
Cabrera or a follower (Ahlborn 1974:note 33).
9 For the use of prints for religious instruction in
sixteenth-century Mexico, see Valadés (1989
[1579]:illustrations on pp. 471, 478, and 499).
10 Kino did not mention Francis Xavier in this
account, presumably because his ministry had
been to Asia, not the New World.
11 For analysis of documents, see Hernández
Serrano (2011); English translations are in
McCarty (1977:64–70). For physical evidence
in churches from this period, see Hernández
Serrano (2011,2012); for Bac in particular, see
Eleazar Herreras (1981:4ff).
12 In Jesuit times, Xavier’s cassock would have been
more distinctively Jesuit, although the 1765 Bac
inventory does not indicate this: “1 statue of
San Xavier with cassock of ribbed silk”
(Fontana 2015:12). Whatever its form in earlier
years, the black color has remained.
13 At Bac, where bilateral balance of motifs on
the Gospel (left from the point of view of the
entrance) and Epistle (right) sides was strictly
observed, Dominic and Ignatius, as a pair,
would have occupied comparable niches in
the Franciscan arrangement. Scholars gener-
ally agree that Ignatius, who is now in a
lower niche nearer the Sanctuary, is out of
place. He should be above the Virgin Mary
as mother of Christ, to match Dominic’s
location in the niche above Joseph. See
Anderson (1979) for the common practice in
Catholic churches of bilateral balance and
the presence of this balance within categories
of figures (e.g. apostles, parents of Christ,
etc.). They are not in these positions now,
due to reorganization, probably in the nine-
teenth century. See Note 31.
14 The figure is too high on the retablo to have been
examined carefully, so its technical attributes are
unstudied (see Fontana 2010:240). Also, see
Ahlborn (1974) on the general technologies
used for other figures at Bac.
15 In a contrapposto pose, a standing figure places
most weight on one foot, so that shoulders and
arms and hips and legs tilt or twist off axes set
up by other parts of the sculpture.
16 Fontana (2010:240) first identified this special
type of halo.
17 Although the rich material of his habit contrasts
with the signs of his humble qualities (the rope
and bare feet), the artists’intention was to
emphasize the saint’s sacred elevation above the
earthy plane.
18 The small Franciscans have yet to be studied. as a
group. Their inconsistencies seem random, not
the result of a comprehensible strategy.
19 Aleta Ringlero (2011) was the first to identify
Gentile’s photos as the earliest known of the
façade figure. His photos are not focused
enough to be reproduced here.
20 Prints and Photographs, Lot 13024.
21 Stereo view, California State Library,
Sacramento;
22 Many of Reynolds’photos are in the Arizona
Historical Society (e.g., 25215, 25212, 25211).
Roughly contemporary photos showing the
figure in the same condition are in the Henry
and Albert Buehman Memorial Collection in
the Arizona Historical Society (e.g., BN200310,
B111429, B68673, and BN201707).
23 The present location of this photo and the name
of the photographer are unknown.
24 The name of the photographer and the date of this
photo are derived from information in different
parts of Fontana’swork(2006:10; 2015:51, 72).
25 Other relevant photos may be in the Duell
Collection at the Library of Congress, but these
have yet to be digitized.
26 The Jesuit images of Joseph and Mary were
paintings, which the Franciscans replaced with
sculptures. Both the Jesuit paintings and the
first set of Franciscan sculptures are now
missing. The latter, in turn, were replaced in mid-
nineteenth century by two other sculptures
(Giffords 1978).
27 For illustrations of the murals in the nave, see
Fontana and McCain (2010:figures 5.5 and
A TALE OF TWO SAINTS 157
5.6); for the sculptures, see Fontana and McCain
(2010:figures throughout chapter 5).
28 Salvation, the eventual return from the dead,
resulted from the unification of believers with
Christ through the consumption of bread and
wine miraculously transformed into Christ’s
living flesh and blood.
29 As previous scholars have noticed, there are actu-
ally three groups of Apostles at Bac, each group
having twelve men, but changing membership,
as individuals left or were added. The names of
those at the Last Supper are well known and
fixed but those at Pentecost are disputed, as are
the early missionaries. Because Paul is included
among the wooden sculptures, they probably
represent the early missionaries.
30 On Franciscan ideas, in particular, see Phelan
(1956).
31 The likely suspects are two Jesuit fathers,
Aloysius Bosco and Carolus Evasius Messea,
who resided at the church for about six months
in 1864. (The Pope had reinstated the Jesuit
Order in 1814.) According to J. Ross Browne
(1869:141–142), they knew that Wa:k was orig-
inally a Jesuit mission site and they spoke of
remodeling the Franciscan church. So, during
their short stay, they may have rearranged some
of the figures, removing the two Franciscans
wearing vestments from the sanctuary and
moving the Jesuit Ignatius Loyola closer
(Umberger 2007:after 89 passim, and 104–109).
32 Fontana and McCain (2010:figure 5.7) reproduce
a close-up photo of the cord on the interior. The
cord on the exterior façade is seen in Figure 13.
33 Valadés’prints (1989) date this notion back to
sixteenth-century Central Mexico. In one print a
friar uses pictures to explain the early events of
Christianity to his native charges. In another, the
friarand his students areincluded in the foreground
of a depictionof the Crucifixion,as if they had been
transported into the past through illustrations.
34 The display of only symbols of human actions on
church exteriors was a form of censorship that
also had precedents in sixteenth-century central
Mexico (see McAndrew 1965:247–254;
Monteverdi 1972).
35 The lions symbolized the support of the Spanish
king, a subtle reminder perhaps that the same
monarch had expelled the Jesuits.
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