Texas Gulf Coast Stories by C. Herndon Williams

Author:C. Herndon Williams [Williams, C. Herndon]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Texas Gulf Coast Stories
ISBN: 9781614232469
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2011-12-05T00:00:00+00:00

RICHLY DECORATED ALTARS AT REFUGIO MISSION IN 1795

The church at the Mission Nuestra Senora del Refugio had richly decorated altars, even though it was the last Spanish mission established in Texas and was located on the remote frontier. The mission was moved inland to its third and final location in present-day Refugio in 1795, when the area was very sparsely settled. The first temporary church was built in 1795 and located in an L-shaped stone building. Two large rooms formed the top and bottom part of the L, with the corner of the L being a square room that served as the sacristy. This was not the usual configuration for a Franciscan mission church (i.e., two separate rooms). The church itself was never sketched or described, but its footprint was excavated twice in the 1900s. The internal arrangement and the surprisingly rich altars, statuary and other religious articles in these two church rooms were described in detail in the Mission Inventory of 1796 and are reconstructed below.

The larger of two church rooms (Room A in the diagram) was about forty-two feet long and fourteen feet wide and was pictured as the only church in twentieth-century reconstructions. The second church room (Room C) was slightly shorter at thirty-nine feet but was also fourteen feet wide. The sacristy (Room B) was fourteen feet square, adjoining both A and C. All three were fourteen feet high. The larger Room A had two major altars on the side walls, as well as the main altar at the end adjoining the sacristy. One of these side altars was placed in a large recess or niche in the thick wall with a life-size relief image of Our Lady of Refuge, holding the Child Jesus and standing on a base of clouds. On each side of her was a life-size image in relief of the angels Michael and Gabriel. Mary and the Child Jesus each wore a silver crown of gold, and Mary also wore gold earrings with blue stones and a necklace of green stones set in silver. Both Mother and Child were wearing three rings of gold with brilliant stones and belts of gold with diamonds. The niche was lined with gilded red cloth and covered by an eight-paneled glass door. Around the niche were four wax statues of saints about three feet tall: John the Evangelist, Mary Magdalene, Dominic and Francis of Assisi.

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