Richard E. Ahlborn

“ After a century and a half of clerical criticism [1] and extracultural pressures against the movement, physical evidence of penitente activity, although scattered and diminished, still survives. As intact, functioning artifacts, the penitente moradas at Abiquiú are valuable records of an autonomous, socio-religious brotherhood and of its place in the troubled history of Spanish-American culture in the Southwest. ”

“ By 1850, other conditions in New Mexico endangered the status quo of the Spanish-speaking residents. With the growing dominance of Anglo-Americans in the commercial, military, political, and social matters of Santa Fe, Hispanos recognized the threat of Anglo culture to their own traditional way of life. This cultural challenge turned many Hispanos back in upon themselves for physical and social security and for spiritual comfort. By the second quarter of the 19th century, penitentes were common in Hispano villages such as Abiquiú. ”

“ In little more than two generations, from 1776 to 1833, the Franciscan missions were disrupted by secularization and excessive acts of penance. In the second half of the 19th century, the new, non-Spanish Archbishops, Lamy and Salpointe, saw a relation between the Franciscan Third Order and the brotherhood of penitentes. When J. B. Lamy began signing rule books (arreglos) for the penitente chapters of New Mexico, [37] he hoped to reintegrate them into accepted Church practice as members of the Third Order. ”

“ During Holy Week, prayer meetings, rosaries, and via crucis processions with religious images are held at the morada and at a site representing Calvary (calvario) , usually the local cemetery. On Good Friday, vigils are kept and the morada is darkened for a service known as las tinieblas. The ceremony of "the darkenings" consists of silent prayer broken by violent noise making. Metal sheets and chains, wooden blocks and rattles are manipulated to suggest natural disturbances at the moment of Jesus' death on the cross. ”

“ With a new generation of inhabitants occupying Abiquiú between 1864 and 1886, the village on the Rio Chama lost its primary function as a buffer settlement against nomadic Indians and settled down into a well-established cultural pattern, which in part was preserved by the penitentes. ”

“ In this period, Abiquiú's mission was a center of clerical reaction to the revolutionary political ideas and clerical secularization that had resulted from Mexico's recent independence from Spain.
In the year 1820, the strained relations between religious authorities and the laity at Abiquiú clearly reflected the unstable conditions in New Mexico. Eventually, charges of manipulating mission funds and neglect of clerical duties were brought against Father Alcina de la Borda by the citizens of Abiquiú. ”

“ Penitente Organization Penitente brotherhoods usually are made up of Spanish-speaking Catholic laymen in rural communities. Although the activities and artifacts vary in specific details, the basic structure, ceremonies, and aims of penitentes as a cultural institution may be generalized. Full membership is open only to adult males. Female relatives may serve penitente chapters as auxiliaries who clean, cook, and join in prayer, as do children on occasion, but men hold all offices and make up the membership-at-large. ”

“ Once established in the Franciscan province, the concept of converging sanctuary walls survived the 1680 Indian revolt and returned with the reconquest of New Mexico in 1693. Spaniards raised and rebuilt missions from the capital at Santa Fe (San Miguel, rebuilt 1710; Figure 9d) north to Taos (San Geronimo, 1706) . Throughout the 18th century, in a three-to-one ratio, the churches of New Mexico used the contracted, as opposed to the box, sanctuary. ”

“ Internal evidence indicates that the east morada is indeed the older one. As shown in Figure 2, the south morada is located farther from the Abiquiú plaza, suggesting it was built at a later date—perhaps nearer 1900, when public and official criticism had prompted greater privacy for Holy Week processions, which were considered spectacles by tourists. In addition, the lesser width of the south morada rooms, the square-milled beams in the oratory, and the fireplace in the east end storage room indicate that it was built after the east morada. ”

“ The settlers not only failed to supply any objects, but when they were required to work at the mission, all tools and equipment had to be supplied to them. [25]
Despite these detrimental influences, the mission at Abiquiú continued to grow. Between 1760 and 1793, the population increased from 733 to 1,363, making Abiquiú the third largest settlement in colonial New Mexico north of Paso del Norte [Ciudad Juarez] . [26] (Only Santa Cruz with 1,650 and Santa Fe with 2,419 persons were larger.) ”

“ Having less influence than individual officers are the penitente members-at-large, numbering between thirty and fifty in each chapter. Through the Hispano family system of extended bilateral kinship, however, much of the village population is represented in each local penitente group.
Edmonson's study in the Rimrock district demonstrates the deep sense of social responsibility felt by penitentes for members and their extended family circles. "Special assistants were appointed from time to time to visit the sick or perform other community services which the brotherhood may undertake." ”

“ Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, left side of altar. Manufacture: Carved wood head and hands, gessoed, painted, and repainted; body of gesso-wetted cloth, draped on stick frame to dry, painted; dressed in black satin habit with white lace border; tin halo, rosary, artificial flowers.
Also on the left side of the east morada altar, there are two male saints (santos) who fill vital roles in the penitente 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) . ”

“ Celebration of the mass requires a special spatial treatment to indicate the sanctuary. This area is emphasized by an arched entry, lateral pilasters, raised floor, and characteristically convergent side walls. These slanting walls provide better vision for the congregation and easier movement for the celebrants. The convergent wall of sanctuaries is often visible from the exterior. It is noteworthy that both the contracted sanctuary of local churches and the linear arrangement of domestic interiors appear in the penitente moradas of Abiquiú. ”

“ Date: 19th century. Origin: Imported to New Mexico. Location: East morada, chapel. Manufacture: Pierced tinwork.
Along the walls of the oratory hang imported religious prints framed in local punch-decorated tinwork. Tin handicraft became more widespread after 1850 when metal U.S. Army containers became available to the Hispanos. Designs seen on three tin frames (Figure 30) include twisted columns, crests, scallops, corner blocks, wings, and a variety of simple repoussé patterns. Paper prints in the tin frame suggest midcentury trade contacts between northern Mexico and the Atlantic Coast. ”

“ Domestic adobe structures differ from ecclesiastic buildings in scale and in spatial arrangement. Colonial New Mexican churches are relatively large, unicellular spaces. Their simple nave volume often is made cruciform by a transept whose higher roof allows for a clerestory. ”

“ Therefore, they celebrate the feast of this female saint [August 30th] and not of that masculine saint [St. Thomas the Apostle, December 21] ." [19] Loyalty to Saint Rose survived this official protest, and village festivals have persisted in honoring Santa Rosa to this day. ”

“ Date: First quarter of 20th century. Origin: Abiquiú; Onésimo Martínez. Location: South morada, center room. Manufacture: Indigo blue designs (stencilled?) .
Richard E. Ahlborn
THE PENITENTE MORADAS OF ABIQUIÚ By the early 19th century, Spanish-speaking residents of villages in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado felt the need for a brotherhood that would preserve their traditional social and religious beliefs. Known as "brothers of light," or penitentes, these Spanish-Americans centered their activities in a houselike building, or morada, especially equipped for Holy Week ceremonies. ”