Santos in Oaxaca's Ancient Churches

A study of santos in 16th-century and other churches in Oaxaca, Mexico

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By Claire and Richard Stracke
Funded by a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation.

In Santo Domingo Ocotlán:

Calvary Group: Crucifix and St. John
Calvary Group: Our Lady of Sorrows
Calvary Group: St. Mary Magdalene
Calvary Group: God the Father
Palm Sunday Christ
Saint in fire
St. Joseph
St. Michael
St. Sebastian
Two Dominican saints
Unidentified Franciscan saint
Virgin Mary

Other santos not photographed
Unidentified Franciscan Saint

Unidentified Franciscan:
The encargado of the church said this is a Mexican martyr. There is a gash over the right eye. Some of the gessoed cloth has broken away, revealing the cane beneath and thus facilitating an understanding of the construction of the piece. The feet are wood, and the head and hands appear to be wood as well. The statue has been repainted in a dark, flat, unattractive brown.

Location: South wall of the nave.

Media and construction: Cane and wood, gesso, paint, stiffened cloth. Eyes: glass, with lashes. Closed mouth.

Size: About 4 feet (120 cm.)

Next: Also along the south wall, a statue of the Virgin Mary

Previous santo

Introduction to Santo Domingo Ocotlán

Santos Home Page



Note: On this site, references to the cardinal directions in a church always assume that the main altar is at the east end of the church, the narthex or entry area at the west end, and the two walls of the nave on the north and south. (The nave is the long central section.)  Actual orientations may differ.

The photos shown here are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. You are free to share or remix them on two conditions: first, that you attribute them to the photographers, Claire and Richard Stracke, without implying any approval of your work on their part; second, that if you alter, transform, or build upon these photos, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.