Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Historic Peralta church is rich in memories

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com; Second in a four-part series

Peralta Situated along historic Route 66 is Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, one of many New Mexico churches on the National Register of Historic Places.

John Taylor, the parish's official historian, said the pueblo-style church has been renovated numerous times, the latest being nearly three years ago. Within the four-foot-thick adobe walls of the church are more than 200 years of memories of parishioners who have devoted their lives to making sure that the church and its traditions survive.

During a recent tour of historic churches in Valencia County sponsored by the Los Lunas Museum of Heritage and Art, Taylor said the land on which the church sits was donated by Mercedes Chavez Otero in the 1800s. He said the first church in Peralta was most likely a hacienda chapel at the home of the Otero family.

"We have a picture of a building to the south of the church of a Methodist mission," Taylor said. "One of the more interesting stories that was told in those days was there weren't a lot of good feelings between the Catholics and the Protestants, and so whenever the priest would be saying Mass here, the Protestants would be ringing their bells."

From the time when the first church was dedicated in 1892 until 1971, Our Lady of Guadalupe was a mission of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Tomé. Taylor said while the church was dedicated in 1892, construction was probably completed at least four years earlier.

It took more than a decade to build the church, Taylor said. Several reasons contributed to the delay, including numerous occasions of flooding. The church's pitched roof was put on in 1912 and the third steeple was added along with the bell.

"The unique aspect of this church is the large cruciform buttresses," Taylor said. "There are no other churches in the state that have them. Father Ralliere probably liked the idea of putting in something similar to that of the churches in France. They're quite distinctive when you look at the shadows.

"The church also still has the bell which adorns the engraved names of the padrinos who paid more than $800 to have it cast and shipped from St. Louis. We actually have a copy of the advertisement that Father Ralliere answered to buy the bell." Father Ralliere was the priest at Immaculate Conception in Tomé for more than 50 years.

Our Lady of Guadalupe has the standard cruciform layout, unlike the church at Isleta, which is made up of just a main nave. There are many different types of layouts in the historic churches in New Mexico, including cross-shaped, the basic nave approach that reflects basic pueblo architecture, while others are just houses. Taylor said some of the newer churches exhibit an amphitheater layout, such as San Clemente Church in Los Lunas and Our Lady of Belen.

Toward the back of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a choir loft that is not used on a regular basis. The choir usually sings from the front of the church. A handcrafted confessional below the loft was purchased from somewhere in Northern New Mexico during the church's renovations.

While the church was recently renovated, Taylor said parishioners have preserved most of the original historical features.

"The Stations of the Cross in the church are particularly interesting in that they are identical to the Stations of the Cross at Trampas and very similar to the Stations of the Cross at San Felipe in Albuquerque," Taylor said.

"As it turns out, it's a style of painting called chromolithography that was very popular in the second half of the 19th century. This identical set was also discovered in a family chapel in San Diego, California. Based on research, we know the artist's name, Paul Deschwanden of Germany, who painted these in the 1870s."

Similar to what was done at Saint Augustine Catholic Church in Isleta, varnish put on the paintings in attempts to restore them has been a concern. The varnish has not been removed in fear that the paintings would be damaged even further.

One particular statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the church can be dated to the 1880s or '90s simply because she is depicted wearing a crown, Taylor explained. The statue was probably created at the time of the original construction of the church.

During the most recent renovation of Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Peralta, parishioners worked closely with the Archdiocese of Santa Fe to make sure that the renovations didn't interfere with historical aspects of the church.

"We wanted to keep the concrete that had been here since the 1930s," Taylor said. "(The archdiocese) wanted wood floors because they thought it would be more original. Our point was that they were originally dirt. We sort of compromised, basically because it would be very expensive to put in all wood floors."

A plaque underneath a statue of Our Blessed Mother is dedicated to one of the church's longtime priests, the late Father Albert Gallegos, who was very instrumental in the renovation of the church.

All the stained glass windows, with the exception of the one in the choir loft, were installed during the 1987 renovation. They were made by an Albuquerque artist, Cathy Gore. The windows were each purchased by an individual or a family and dedicated to their loved ones' memory.

The striking and colorful altar screen at Our Lady of Guadalupe was hand-carved and hand-painted by Charlie Otero, one of New Mexico's premier santeros. Each of the panels on the screen has a special significance, not in the overall Catholic point of view, but for people here in the area.

Otero, who has studied and practiced the art for decades, said santero art was most vivid in New Mexico in the mid-1700s to the late 1800s. He said after that time, the archdiocese, which was run by French priests, threw out a lot of the hand-crafted santos from the churches.

"Some of the parishioners ended up with some of the santos, and, later on, they were collected and put into museums," he said. "So we have some fabulous santos collections in Santa Fe. Larry Frank has some of the best collections."

Otero explained that the altar screen was so large, he had to build it in three separate pieces. On the main part of the screen, in the tabernacle, Otero carved a lamb "to depict the Lamb of God." He also carved the prayer "Lamb of God, take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us." He upholstered the inside.

The different panels on the screen depict saints and scenery that most reflect the community, including Tomé Hill, St. Anthony and San Juan Diego. The colors were also used accordingly.

"Green is the color of hope," Otero explained. "When Jesus died on the cross, it reflected our hope that He opened up the doors for us to also be there with Him one day.

"I used hand-ground pigments from all over New Mexico. I collect earth and grind it down and blend in the colors. Before I even paint, I put on the gesso, which is made from gypsum from the desert. The difference between the commercial gesso and the home-made gesso is that it has to be applied when it's still warm. When it cools off, it leaves streaks. I used a lot of gesso on this."

After Otero finished the altar screen, the church asked him to create an altar table, but he was told he only had a month because the dedication with the archbishop had already been scheduled. The morning of the dedication, Otero and his wife, Vicki, were still putting on the finishing touches. He said he remembers the bishop made a comment that the altar was still wet.

Along with the screen and table, Otero made two beautiful angel candle holders placed on either side of the altar.

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