Page 156 - The mystery of faith

Fig. 1 Fig. 2 Fig. 3

Such a detailed account, referring to the iconographies as well as the altarpieces’ characteristics, must
have been based on direct observation. Moreover, the building’s documentary history supports this
description. Although the Inquisition’s tribunal moved there in 1784, the church continued to be used
complete with all its ornaments until 1826 or 1827, when the Jesuits, ‘its presumed owners, took
everything they had and left’.24 Although we have no proof of it, an explosion on 13 June 1823 caused
considerable damage to the building and the loss of much of the sculptural ornamentation, and may
have forced the Jesuits to return later in an effort to recover whatever had survived.25 Taking into
account González de León’s description, as well as the quality and finishing of the present two
sculptures, we may assume that the Saint Francis Xavier would have enjoyed a more prominent position
than that of Saint Francis Borgia.

Furthermore, a notation in the Order’s surviving minutes, in which the construction of a sanctuary and
a niche for the altar of the school of Las Becas was approved, mentions ‘the ensamblador and
entallador Pedro Ruiz Paniagua and Pedro Duque Cornejo’ (Pedro Roldán’s grandson), and confirms
that in 1710 there already existed an Inmaculada: ‘...charged to make seraphim for the niches; and a
base, all shown on the drawings, [the niche] that above the Sanctuary contains the image of the
Immaculate Conception. This latter need not be done as it has already been made...’.26

Finally, regarding the exterior sculptures, there is little left to add, save for a good description of the
facade, which survives according to a copy taken from Pablo de Olavide’s map of the city (1771):

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