Inglesia de San Lucas

(1750 Church Bell on Right)

Inglesia de San Lucas
Cabo San Lucas
Mexico

Cross in Front of Church

"Cabo San Lucas  commonly called Cabo, is a city at the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula," (Link 2.)

Front Facade of Church

"The church interior blends simplicity with traditional iconography.

Sanctuary

Left Narthex Statue

Right Narthex Statue

Narthex

Originally built in 1730,  Iglesia de San Lucas dates to the earliest period of the Jesuit missions in Baja California Sur, when missionaries like Padre Nicolas Tamaral were seeking to convert the native inhabitants of the area, the Pericu Indians. Tamaral wasn’t terribly successful in his conversion efforts. The natives unceremoniously killed him in 1734, apparently unwilling to accept his ban against polygamy. But despite Tamaral’s untimely end, the Catholic churches in both Cabo San Lucas and San Jose del Cabo are testaments to the priest’s deep devotion and single-minded sense of purpose.

1750 Church Bell

Book Sculpture-in Front of Church

"...BELL     YOU SEE, WAS...ROM SPAIN IN 1750"

"The Jesuits were gone from Baja by 1768, and the Pericues were culturally extinct not long afterward. The church, however, has remained, and continues its legacy as the best attended house of worship in the city. It has a place of honor near the main square, Plaza Amelia Wilkes, and perhaps more than other tourist attraction in Cabo San Lucas, offers a window into the religious and cultural life of the city’s inhabitants. Mexico remains a very Catholic country, and the church is the headquarters for the local parish.

"The Iglesia de San Lucas is open to visitors on a daily basis, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., with masses held every Saturday (7 p.m.) and Sunday (8:30 a.m., noon, and 7 p.m.). The noon mass on Sunday is performed in both English and Spanish. In addition to services, the church also plays an important role during festivals and religious holidays. The Iglesia is alternatively known as the Santuario de Guadalupe, and the Feast of the Virgin of Guadalupe, held annually on December 12th, is an event of significant cultural importance locally, and indeed throughout Mexico." (Link 1.)

Photos: Taken in September 2013 by Sw.
Link 1: http://baja.com/cabo-san-lucas/cabo-catholic-church/
Link 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabo_San_Lucas

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen (SW.)

Catedral De Puntarenas

Catedral De Puntarenas
Puntarenas, Costa Rica

"This church is most often referred to as Catedral Puntarenas. It's entrance faces east in Sagrado Corazon de Jesus urban park. It is a stone Gothic revival building, with a clock tower above the entrance. Although the building itself is about 100 years old, this is a young diocese, established in 1998 as part of the Archdiocese of San José de Costa Rica.

Altar

Sanctuary  Window

 Sanctuary Madonna-Right Front

Pews and Rear Doors of Sanctuary

"In 1902, the cornerstone of the Cathedral of Puntarenas was laid. This imposing Gothic work was built with stone blocks brought from Barranca and Esparza, held together with lime and sand mortar. The solid stone building has thus far been unaffected by the strong earthquakes that shake Puntarenas. Called the "Stone Church" to the locals, it is one of the architectural attractions of the province. It was declared a historical and architectural heritage site of Costa Rica. (Law No. 7555 of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports, 2004)." (Link.)

Photos: Taken in September 2013 by SW.
Link :
http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMD0N0_Catedral_Nuestra_Seora_del_Carmen_Puntarenas_Costa_Rica

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen (SW.)

Iglesia de San Felipe Church

Iglesia de San Felip Church

Portobelo, Panama

"Portobelo is a port city in Colón Province, Panama. It is located on the northern part of the Isthmus of Panama and has a deep natural harbor. Today, Portobelo is a sleepy city with a population of fewer than 3,000. In 1980 the ruins of the Spanish colonial fortifications, along with nearby Fort San Lorenzo, were declared a UNESCOWorld Heritage Site.

"Legend has it that Christopher Columbus originally named the port "Puerto Bello", meaning "Beautiful Port", in 1502.^[2]It is also said that after Francis Drake died of dysentery in 1596 at sea, he was buried in a lead coffin near Portobelo Bay." (Link 2.)

"The large white church at Portobelo is the Iglesia de San Felipe, which is still in use. It dates from 1814, but its tower wasn’t completed until 1945. It’s famous as the home of the life-sized effigy of the Nazareno of Portobelo, better known as the Black Christ. The effigy, depicting Christ carrying the cross, normally resides on a podium to the left of the altar, but it is brought out to the center of the church for the Black Christ Festival, by far Portobelo’s biggest event. The handsome altar of the church is adorned with gold images depicting various emblems of the crucifixion, including nails, instruments of torture, and the dice the Roman soldiers cast for Christ’s robe. Small wooden carvings ringing the walls depict the stages of the cross.

Altar

"Behind this church is the recently renovated Iglesia de San Juan de Dios, home to the new Museo del Cristo Negro de Portobelo, which now displays 63 of the robes donated by Panamanians for the festival, some of which are more than 100 years old. 

Iglesia de San Juan de Dios

"Since the 17th century, Portobelo has been the home of the Cristo Negro de Portobelo - the Black Christ of Portobelo. There are several explanations for the presence of this life size figure of a black Christ in the village. Each story has three parts - the arrival of the statue, the refusal of the statue to leave the village, and its veneration. Regardless of the version, however, all of the stories conclude that the statue is responsible for miraculous deeds in the lives of his devotees.

The Black Christ

(On left side of Chancel)

"Nobody knows exactly how or when the Black Christ (El Cristo Negro) arrived in the tiny community of Portobelo on Panama’s Caribbean coast. Some put the date at around 1658. But there are so many stories of miracles associated with the Black Christ, that tens of thousands of pilgrims visit the Church every October 21.

"The popular name, The Black Christ, is attributed to U.S. servicemen shortly after the Second World War. Some 500 arrived in a ship to celebrate the October festival. One witness of that particular day says that many of the U.S. visitors were so caught up in the emotional fervor that they began to shout “Viva El Cristo Negro!” The name stuck everywhere except in Portobelo. A more familiar name is simply The Saint. (Link 1.)

Nuestra Senora De La Merced

(At right side of Chancel)

Shrine 

(On left wall of Church)

Photos: Taken in October 2013 by SW. 

Link 1: http://www.coloncity.com/blackchrist.html
Link 2: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portobelo,_Col%C3%B3n

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen

(SW)

Beach Church
(Now the Post Office)

Beach Church,

Brittania Beach, B.C. Canada

"Britannia Beach is a small unincorporated community in the Squamish-Lillooet Regional District located approximately 55 kilometers north of Vancouver, British Columbia on the Sea-to-Sky Highway on Howe Sound. It has a population of about 300.

The community first developed between 1900 and 1904 as the residential area for the staff of the Britannia Mining and Smelting Company. The residential areas and the mining operation were physically interrelated, resulting in coincidental mining and community disasters through its history.

Today, the town is host to the Britannia Mine Museum, formerly known as the British Columbia Museum of Mining, on the grounds of the old Britannia Mines. The mine's old concentrator facilities, used to separate copper ore from its containing rock, are a National Historic Site of Canada. " (Link 1.)

Brittania Mine Museum

"On April 1, 1975 the BC Museum of Mining was opened to the public, and was designated as a National Historic Site in 1988. The following year, 1989, the Museum site was designated a British Columbia Historic Landmark. The Britannia site and its historic buildings, may be familiar to fans of the X-Files series as several episodes were filmed on the site. In conjunction with the opening of a major expansion project the museum was renamed the Britannia Mine Museum in 2010." (Link 1.)

One of the historic buildings on the site is the original  Beach Church. According to Bruce Ramsey in his book Britannia it was built in 1952 for $16,500. What was unique about this church is that one side was used for Catholic services and one side was used for Protestant services.  They were separated by a wall. Today one side is used as the post office and the other side as a meeting hall.  

The original dark wood beams of the church sanctuary can be seen in ceiling of the meeting hall.  A small dark wood cross haphazardly sitting in one of the corners of the rafters brings memories of the original church. 

.

Photos: Taken in 2010 and 2013 by SW. 
Reference 1: Britannia, by Bruce Ramsey
Reference 2: Demolition Mama blog post "Choo Choo Britannia", 2/6/10.
Link 1: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Britannia_Beach,_British_Columbia

Link 2: http://www.jtc.sala.ubc.ca/britanniabeach/workshop1/assign4/green-newest.pdf (Note sketch of Post Office/Church.)
Link 3: http://www.memorybc.ca/britannia-beach-united-church-fonds;rad

Prayer

God, be with the persecuted Christians through out the world. Amen
(SW)