Paintings of the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Cathedral, the Conciliar Seminary, and the Parish Church of Lourdes

The Guadalupe in Yucatan

The cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe only arrived in Yucatan during the second half of the 18^th century, and there are few Colonial-era paintings of this advocation surviving in the state. Two Guadalupan canvases of fine quality are housed in Merida Cathedral and in the Conciliar Seminary of Our Lady of the Rosary and St. Ildefonso, a training college for priests located on 18^th Street and 17^th in the beautiful Itzimná area of Merida. 

Both paintings are signed by the acclaimed artist Miguel Cabrera, and together with the four oils in the main reredos of the church in Tecoh, they comprise the only works signed by this painter so far identified in Yucatan.

For many years, the Guadalupe in the Cathedral, dated 1762, presided over the Chapter House of the ancient church. Since restoration in 2023, it has been in the safekeeping of the Archdiocese. The picture is of medium size and depicts Mary full-length, with her traditional iconography, on a soft green background. 

Meanwhile, the Virgin of Guadalupe in the Conciliar Seminary hangs in the “Manuel Castro Ruiz” room, also called the “Baroque Room”, which is not usually open to the public. It is similar in size to the original image of the Guadalupe which is venerated in the Basilica at Tepeyac. The signature of the artist and the year it was painted can be seen at the bottom left. Pope John Paul II prayed in front of this painting during his stay at the Seminary in August 1993. 

In the interior of the parish church of Our Lady of Lourdes, located on 65^th Street, between 36^th and 38^th in the center of Merida, a third painting of the Virgin of Guadalupe is displayed for public veneration. It was done in oils by the artist Pedro Cardeña Alpuche in the 1950s. 

This 20^th-century Yucatecan artist was a restorer, sculptor and painter. For many years he dedicated himself to sacred art, creating works in various churches within the Archdiocese of Yucatan, including the Cathedral. In 1957 he painted the interior of the chapel, now gone, of the Servants of Mary, a congregation of nuns located at that time on 59^th Street between 54^th and 56^th in the city’s Historic Downtown.

In the sacristies of the churches of St. Christopher and St. John the Baptist in Merida, there are other Guadalupan canvases, possibly from the late 18^th or early 19^th centuries, but they are more homegrown, and of lesser quality that those mentioned above.