Over a year ago when I was in Cochabamba
walking along the streets, I saw a man selling postcards. Thinking that I
should probably send a few post cards home, I decided to look at what he had. I
remember the image of one postcard catching my eye, and never fleeing my
memory. It was a photo of a beautiful church with a unique and distinct style.
Alongside of it was a tall bell tower just as magnificent. I remember thinking,
wherever that church is, I want to see it.
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| Concepcion |
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| Above the doors a Bible verse from Genesis is written in Spanish "casa de Dios, puerta del cielo" which means "house of God, gate of heaven." |
17 months later, I found myself on a 6 hour
bus ride from Santa Cruz to the desolate North Eastern part of Bolivia just to
go see that church. The Spanish name of the church is “Concepcion” and was
built in the 1750s. Concepcion is just one of the original 10 mission churches
built by Jesuit priests and local tribes in 17th and 18th
centuries. Jesuits came over from Spain with a goal to Christianize nomadic
tribes in the regions of early Brazil, Paraguay, and North Eastern Bolivia and
to also teach them trades. I read somewhere that the tribes they met were at first
hostile but then warmed up to the European Jesuits after they found out they
had a different mission from their brethren Spanish Conquistadors. Many Indians
who joined the missions were looking for protection from Portuguese slave
traders or the unfair tax system of the Spanish conquistadors.1 The
Jesuits certainly had their handful when it came to converting the tribes, some
tribes had a rule of only one child per family and so would kill their second
son or daughter if they had more children. The mission communities created by
the Jesuits, called reductions, were self-sufficient, with thriving economies
and virtually autonomous from the Spanish crown.2 The government of
Spain accused the Jesuits of hiding money from Spain in their missions and
further also accused the Jesuit order of starting riots in Madrid. All in all
this snowballed into the Jesuits being evicted from their missions in 1767. I
read that for the Jesuit mission for Concepcion, a group of soldiers arrived
into the mission town and ordered their eviction of the Jesuit priests.
Today, the church in the pueblo, also
called Concepcion, is recognized as a world heritage site. Many of the Jesuit
mission churches survived after the Jesuits were evicted because of the local
tribes wanting to preserve their memories with what the Jesuits had done for
them. A major restoration project was carried out in the 1970s-1990s by a Swiss
Architect named Hans Roth. Centuries later he and his team of local Bolivians
restored the churches in Eastern Bolivia that still remained. He dedicated the
rest of his life to restoring the mission churches.
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| The statue of the Immaculate Conception |
Connor and I arrived in the town at night
and we saw the church across the plaza and it was closed. We went to eat at a
place called Buen Gusto and afterwards we started walking back to our hotel.
Connor asked me if I wanted to pray the rosary on our way back. As we were
praying, we walked past the church and low and behold the doors were now open.
So we decided to pause our rosary and go inside the church and check it out.
The church was so beautiful. You can see the European styles incorporated in
the church along with designs of native flowers and other native traditions, a
nice blend of the indigenous and European traditions. The pews were so
beautiful. The pews were hand carved with different depictions from the bible
carved into them. The pews in the back had designs from Old Testament while the
pews in the front were of the New Testament. We figured out why the church was
open, a Rosary group was praying the rosary in front of the Immaculate Conception
statue. So Connor and I sat down next to them and continued our Rosary that we
were praying outside. I must say praying the rosary inside of a beautiful
decorated church certainly beat praying the rosary walking in the dark outside.
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| An original column from the 1750s that was used to support the roof of the church. Now this column is in the museum in the plaza. |
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| In the workshop in the pueblo making the new columns during the renovations in the 1970s. |
Centuries later the impact of the Jesuits
can be seen in the Santa Cruz department. I was talking to the carpenter at the
boarding school here in Yapacani and he told me that he went to a trade school
that taught wood carving techniques that the Jesuits taught in their workshops
in the Chiquitania region. Many of the churches throughout Santa Cruz have the
traditional spiral columns that are a characteristic of the Jesuit churches. A
matter of fact the altar area for the mass in Santa Cruz for the visit of Pope
Francis here in Bolivia was based off the front of Concepcion.
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| The Concepción based altar área at the Holy Mass in Santa Cruz. Pope Francis is at the lecturn on the left giving his Homily! |
I had a great time at Concepcion, It would be nice to see the other Jesuit mission churches in Bolivia. They are far away from each other though. I like making trips to
holy places. Maybe one day I will return to Bolivia and have the opportunity to
visit the other churches but if I do not that’s ok. I’m just happy I got to see
Concepcion.
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| Our San Carlos misión and another town recieved the left over 10,000 consecrated hosts that Pope Francis consecrated. Its been a month and we are still recieving the same hosts from the Papal Mass. |
1,2 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesuit_reduction
