Taos Sacred Places: San Francisco de Asis in Ranchos

July 27, 2010

The San Francisco de Asis church in Ranchos is world-renowned church with a long and a rich history. Thanks to Georgia O’Keeffe, Paul Strand, Ansel Adams and countless others, the church is described as one of the most photographed, sketched and painted structures the United States. The church, located just south of Taos in the Ranchos de Taos plaza on US 68, is listed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, and has been designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site—an important designation conferred by a division of the United Nations whose charge is to “conserve sites of outstanding cultural or natural importance to the common heritage of humanity.� There are 890 sites in the world that have been given this designation, and this one is right here in our community!

To grasp the relevance of the church and the protections it is now afforded, it is necessary to remember a bit of its history. The village of Ranchos de Taos was settled in 1716 by Spanish settlers who, like the conquistadors, were accompanied into New Mexico by Franciscan friars who wished to bring Catholicism to the masses. At that time, the trip from Ranchos to Taos Pueblo or the town of Fernandez de Taos (now just Taos) took about a half a day by cart or horse. Construction of the village’s parish church, San Francisco de Asis, was begun sometime around 1776 and completed sometime about 1815, in the Spanish Colonial style. The plans used for the early churches in New Mexico were based on 16th century Mexican mission church styles, which had been based on 15th century medieval churches in Southwest France—all of which had a particularly fortress-like quality. You can see the derivation in the Ranchos church. Parish churches are distinct from their mission counterparts in that mission churches were located on pueblos and parish churches were most often located in the center of the town’s fortified square. Ranchos de Taos was not a typical fortified town, thus her church also functioned as a defensible place of sanctuary from marauders. The Romanesque windows, not original to the church, were added once peace was formally obtained with the Apaches and Comanches who would raid local farmsteads in times of drought and famine. On the interior north side of the sanctuary, a long singular beam of wood represents The Cord of St. Francis, which friars wore around their waist and knotted in three places to represent the Trinity of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The church is a cruciform, or cross shape, and “leans� slightly to the right, which legend says represents Christ’s weary head and torso hanging slightly toward the right on the cross.

It is a special honor for the church at Ranchos to be named for San Francisco, or St. Francis, who was a Catholic deacon and preacher in 11th century Assisi, Italy. St. Francis was known for being witness to—and creator of—extraordinary interactions with the animal world. A book called “Fioretti� in Italian, or “Little Flowers,� was written to collect the stories of St. Francis’ ministry to the animals. For his compassion, he was named the patron saint of animals, as well as the environment. Catholic churches the world over hold ceremonies blessing animals on St. Francis’ feast day, October 4. St. Francis began the Order of Friars Minor, in Latin Ordo Fratrum Minorum, which would come to be known upon his death as the Franciscans. St. Francis referred to his followers as “Fraticelli,� meaning “Little Brothers.�

The friars who attended the conquest and settlement of New Mexico by the Spanish were Franciscans, and like the 500 years of Franciscans who came before them, were known for their ability to live a simple life while traveling, and for their cheerful spirit and beautiful singing voices. To add to the special meaning behind the naming of the Ranchos church, St. Francis is a rare saint who, for many years, had two feast days. His story tells that he received the stigmata, and a separate feast was held in honor of that until 1969 when it was removed from the general Catholic calendar. According to the account, on the day he received his stigmata, St. Francis witnessed a seraphim—a six-winged angel—on a cross, and it is this moment that has been lovingly recreated inside the church, above the main door, painted by hand by the current leader of the church, Father Francis.

Visitors who approach the church from “behind,� on its west side, are often awed at the sheer mass of the adobe buttressing, especially as the afternoon sunlight plays off it. In fact, this church is one of the singular great examples of the architectural effect called “massing,� which is how the parts of a building relate to one another when the details are removed. The massive adobe walls and their equally massive buttresses taper in as they soar upwards into the vast blue sky, as if the church itself suddenly erupted from the earth. The parking area around the building is dirt, and thus land and church are the same color, which enforces the idea that the church was “born� of its place. The church stands with its back toward the main road, its main portal and the embracing arms of its atria, or courtyard walls, facing east—the direction of the rising sun (son), symbolic of Christ’s resurrection as well as the concept of rebirth through forgiveness. A statue of St. Francis, who is often referred to as the patron saint of New Mexico, is joined by statues of Our Lady of Guadalupe, various members of the camposanto, or cemetery, and other saintly protectors that are honored within the atria. Two belltowers, topped with white crosses, grace the east-facing façade. These were originally wooden, but were eventually covered with stucco to match the main church structure. The front doorway between the towers is arched in a near-Gothic pointed style, which might be of Moorish derivation. This detail might have been added later, during renovations sanctioned by the French Bishop Lamy of Santa Fe during the late 19th century, as he wanted to “modernize� (i.e. remove the folk references from) the existing churches by adding his favorite Gothic and Romanesque details.

At well over 160 feet long, 90 feet wide and 25 feet tall, this “small� church is really quite grand. The interior has beautifully carved corbels, or brackets, which support the viga-supported roof. The French style altar, and the wholly New World inventions of retablos, bultos and the rereredo, or altar screen—completed by some of the finest santeros in New Mexico—are of special historic note. Equally notable is the extremely rare “living crucifix,� where Christ is still alive and hung from a living tree—one of only three known examples—on the north side of the sanctuary. All are ornamented in white, red, yellow and black—interestingly, very important colors of both the Catholic liturgical tradition begun in the 4th century BCE, as well as for Puebloan culture.

Among the church’s treasures, housed in a side room of the parish rectory, is a donated mystery painting called “The Shadow of the Crown,� painted in 1896 by French Canadian Henri Ault. The painting depicts Christ walking along the Sea of Galilee by day. By darkness, however, the shadow of a cross appears over Christ’s left shoulder and the waters seem to swirl as if in motion.

San Francisco de Asis church was almost a victim of the good intentions of her people, when in the 1960s she was coated with a covering of cement stucco, in order to “protect� her. What people did not know then was that a building made of natural elements has to be able to breathe. It has to be able to expand and contract with the seasons, the wind and the rain. The cement stucco sealed her from the outside and when invisible microscopic cracks began forming in the protective coating, water—driven by physics—was hydrostatically drawn into the walls. Eventually, this undermined the stability of the walls and in 1979, the coating had to be removed and portions of the adobe walls and buttressing, which in some cases is up to 10 feet thick, had to be replaced. Upon her restoration, the parish elected to reinstate an annual enjarre, or remudding, which is the most effective way to protect her from weather damage (see p. 15).

The mud used to make the annual coating actually occurs in several layers and is procured from the area south of town near The Stakeout, known as Tierra Blanca. This is not by accident. Tierra Blanca means ‘white earth’ and—reaching back into history—churches, missions and friaries established by the Franciscans were architecturally simple, with little or no ornamentation, simple unadorned windows and doors, and painted in tones of white in accordance with the Franciscan policy of austerity.

Because of this requirement, the physical church is also the bearer of the history of her people. Each layer of earth plaster bears the sweat, tears and handprints of the people who have loved her into well being during the enjarres over the years. The church is open nearly every afternoon—a rare gift in a land of locked churches—for visitors to enter and take in the beautiful workmanship of skilled artisans, and a place that truly embodies what it means to be called “sanctuary.�

See related story, The Enjarre of San Francisco de Asis..

Rachel Preston is an architectural
designer and historian, freelance writer, and your guide to all that’s good in New Mexico. She can be reached through her website at www. archinia.com.