Colonial Comayagua

Two weeks ago I flew to Honduras, where I served as a missionary from 2001-2007, to celebrate the wedding of two lay missionaries, Etelvina Hernández (Honduran) and Mark Fein (American). Etel has served for about five years, including a year in the US, and Mark for about three. I know Etel and her family well, and she was part of the mission team that came to Sudan in May-June of 2009. I also played a small role in encouraging Mark to serve with Missioners of Christ. They met while serving together in Comayagua and both taught last year at the Catholic bilingual school in town. They just left a few days ago for Nicaragua where they will both be working in the student life department of the Central American campus of Ave Maria University.

The wedding took place in the colonial city of Comayagua, where both the friars and Missioners of Christ are established. Comayagua, once the capital of Honduras, boasts of five colonial churches, the most prominent of which is the cathedral, which dates to the 1700s, and which dominates the plaza in the center of town.

The reredos in the sanctuary is overwhelming. Almost the entire structure is gold-plated, with statues embedded in niches at different levels. When illuminated it's almost blinding and gives the impression of the saints enfolded in the glory of heaven.

The cathedral houses the oldest functioning clock in the western hemisphere. The clock was built by Moorish craftsmen in the 1100s and given as a gift to the city by Philip II in the 1500s. It is propelled by a complex system of weights, cables and gears.

The cathedral also has an impressive tower with bells that ring every quarter hour, as well as one for Mass and another that is only sounded on the city’s patronal feast of the Immaculate Conception on December 8.

From the tower there is an amazing view of the rest of the building and the surrounding city.

The courtyard to the left of the main nave.

The facade of the cathedral.

In the recently renovated central plaza in front of the cathedral a silhouette of the structure has been reproduced in different shades of stone.

The fountain in the center of the main plaza.

The palacio municipal which houses Comayagua's city government offices.

The view to the southeast of the central plaza.

An archway leading to the fountain at the center of the plaza.

In the next few days I hope to be able to post photos and descriptions of some of the other more mission related sites in the Comayagua area. Stay tuned!

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