Jesuits and Catholics have their day
La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
There are two things to do on a Sunday in Arequipa, Peru. One is to soothe your hangover with a bowl of adobo arequipeño, a spicy pork stew. The other is to go to church.
So I do as the Arequipeños do.
Altar faithful at La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
If it’s not obvious yet, let me clear something up: I am not religious. I am irreligious. I am, in fact, irreverently blasphemous.
Jesus of the threatened rooster, La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
Despite not being part of God’s team — which really only wants me on the roster as a compliant and powerless breeding machine — for the most part, I like religious art. The Church and the faithful who wished to buy their way into heaven (or politics), were fabulously generous supporters of artists, if not unfettered artistic expression. Props deserved and props given to the people and institutions that pay for art.
La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
Yet I do not much care for the Spanish Catholic artistic style, particularly when it wanders over into Baroque and Rococo much like stoner gravitate to laser light shows. The results are overly ornate, garishly gilded, and more about narcissism pomp than faithful circumstance. Where some see shiny splendor, I see splashy squalor.
What does work aesthetically for me is the outside of Arequipa’s churches, including the Basílica Catedral, the Iglesia de La Compañía (Jesuit church), and the Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel in the Cayma district.
Facade of La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
Door detail at La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
In the deeply carved stonework facades of its churches — even if somewhat marred by soot and grime — Arequipa earns its nickname, La Ciudad Blanca or The White City.
Columns at La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
Facade of Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel, Cayma district
The divine is here, though not in the garishly gilded altars or in the idols rolling eyes heavenward.
Facade detail
The people attending Arequipa’s churches are, at turns, full of joy or caught up in mourning, seeking salvation for newly earned sins or mired in their weekly force of habit.
Basílica Catedral, Plaza de Armas
My belief is not shared by the worshipers — I believe divinity comes not from God, but from us. Divinity can be found right here on earth, in people and especially in their community ties. We don’t have a relationship to the divine. We are the divine.
Candlelit prayer at La Iglesia y Complejo de la Compañía
Let the gods worship humankind, I say.
Church is out at Iglesia de San Miguel Arcángel
Was it just coincidence that you posted this on the same day that the first Jesuit Pope was elected?
Total coincidence! I was working on polishing up the post (like worrying about “worshippers” vs “worshipers”) when the new Pope news broke. I confess to tweaking the title a bit (was just Catholics, no Jesuits, but Arequipa has a real Jesuit side).
The next post is about pork stew. Wonder if tomorrow will bring some crazy pig coincidence…
I was thinking, since he’s Argentinian, that the announcement should have been “Habemus empanadas”.
Habemus empanadas de carne de “Rey”?
Going back to a previous post – the cuy we ate was tougher than the Shoes of the Fisherman.
That’s as tough to swallow as the Jonah and the whale story.