#9, The San Fernando Cathedral

February 13, 2024

Everywhere I travel I'm drawn to visiting churches.  I remember one stop on a cruise in Norway where I had seen a steeple from the ship as we were passing the town.  Knowing that we had a 30 minutes stop there, I practically sprinted towards it when we docked.  As I got closer, the steeple all but disappeared.  When I arrived, I found the church completely inaccessible.  It was obviously was a functioning church, not a historical building.  The San Fernando Cathedral was both historical site and active congregation.

St Mary’s church was built for the English-speaking people of the city, that is, the English and Germans.  Those who spoke Spanish, Italian and French were to worship at the Church of San Fernando.  Later, the Church of Saint Peter Claver was built for “colored and Indian Catholics”.

Side note, no filter on the above photo.  Such a deep blue sky!

Outside, on the wall by the door this sign is posted indicating that the remains of the heroes of the Alamo are entombed in the church.

I expected possibly a memorial plaque on the floor, so I was surprised to see this coffin-like stone box.

See that name "Bowie" on the center panel?  He's the guy that created and perfected the bowie knife.  According to a display at the Alamo, the knife, useful for a lot of things, was designed for close-combat fighting and had a blade of at least nine inches long.  

I have no idea what is meant by the phrase on the right hand panel, "exposed to public view for a year".  

Stepping into the main sanctuary, I could see that as was the case when I visited St Mary’s, there was a mass underway, so I just stayed unobtrusively in the back.  Interestingly, I observed standing near me was a uniformed guard.