Since these stylistic traits also occur in a Cristo figure in the Taylor Museum collection[69] and in two other bultos—a Cristo and Jesus Nazareno in the south morada at Abiquiú—it seems reasonable to designate the anonymous image-maker as the "Abiquiú morada santero."
A bulto that Alice Henderson identifies as St. Joseph is probably this figure of St. John (Figure 42) now resting in the east morada. She has reported that this image and that of St. Peter were in the mission of Santo Tomás before 1919.[70] The shift in residence for these santos was substantiated by José Espinosa, who stated that several images "were removed to one of the local moradas ... when the old church was torn down."[71]
On the right side of the east morada altar, images of two male saints reflect the intense affection felt by penitentes for the Franciscan saints Anthony of Padua and John of Nepomuk. The most popular New Mexican saint, San Antonio (Figure 43), customarily carries the young Jesus, El Santo Niño. This image has been painted dark blue to represent the traditional Franciscan habit of New Mexico before the 1890s.[72]
The 14th-century saint, John of Nepomuk, Bohemia (Figure 44), is known from a legend that states he was killed by King Wenceslaus for refusing to reveal secrets of the Queen, for whom he was confessor. The story notes that, after torture, John was drowned in the Moldau River, but that his body floated all night and, in the morning, was taken to the Church of the Holy Cross of the Penitents in Prague. After the martyred chaplain was canonized in 1729, his cult spread to Rome, then Spain, and, by 1800, into New Mexico.
Figure 43. Saint Anthony of Padua and the Infant Jesus (San Antonio y Niño). Size: 43.2 centimeters high. Date: First half of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, right side of altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted with repainted head; dark blue habit; dressed in light blue cotton fabric with white border, artificial flowers.
Figure 44. Saint John of Nepomuk (San Juan Nepomuceno). Size: base to hat 78.7 centimeters. Date: Second quarter of 19th century. Origin: New Mexico, unidentified santero. Location: East morada, right side of altar. Manufacture: Carved wood, gessoed and painted; dark blue robe with white border; dressed in black hat and robe under white alblike coat; rosary.
Among the Hispanos, local Franciscans promoted this cult of St. John as a prognosticator and as a respecter of secrecy.[73] Due in part to this promotion, San Juan Nepomuceno became a favorite of New Mexican penitentes. E. Boyd suggests that the image of St. John (Figure 44) may have first represented St. Francis or St. Joseph. She also notes a stylistically similar bulto of St. Joseph in Colorado Springs, manufactured not long after 1825.[74]
Oratory in South Morada.—Turning to the south morada chapel, we find numerous parallels to the earlier east morada in santo identities and in religious artifacts. (Figure 10 presents a previously unphotographed view of this active penitente chapel with its fully equipped altar.) The walls of the west chamber of the south morada are lined with benches over which hang religious prints in frames of commercial plaster and local tin work (Figure 45).
