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18th-Century Statue of San Diego's Forgotten Patroness Returns!
July/August 2019
 Interior of the Adobe Chapel, c. 1890 with the Immaculate Conception statue in place. Courtesy Coons collection |
 Photo by Marlena Krcelich, courtesy SOHO |
Important but mostly forgotten history and an associated artifact linked to San Diego's founding 250 years ago have been rediscovered in this anniversary year. Most people know that the city took its name from Saint Didacus (Diego), as did the Mission San Diego de Alcalá, both established by the Spanish in 1769. But there was another saint, a female saint, venerated above all others by San Diego's earliest European colonists. The Immaculate Conception was the principle icon of the presidio chapel and the patroness of the town of San Diego, the port and the presidio fort. Her story was nearly lost to history—until now.
Save Our Heritage Organisation, the region's leading historic preservation group, is exhibiting one of San Diego's oldest and most important historic and cultural artifacts in the Adobe Chapel of the Immaculate Conception in Old Town. For the first time in 75 years, this stately, 18th-century wood and gesso statue of the Immaculate Conception can once again be seen in her former historic setting. The polychrome, hand-carved sculpture depicts a serene Mary, standing enshrouded in sweeping drapery that gleams with gold leaf. Her hands clasped in prayer, she appears to be held aloft on a heavenly cloud with a crescent moon and three cherubs. She is considered one of the most beautiful works of Spanish Colonial art in California.
On loan from the Mission San Luis Rey Museum in Oceanside, the statue standing taller than four feet will reassume her former place of honor on the chapel's historic altar from July 16 through December (excluding the month of October). July 16 marks the founding of San Diego, California's first European settlement, and the Adobe Chapel, 3963 Conde Street in Old Town San Diego, 92110, will be open free to the public from 10am to 2pm. A City of San Diego commemoration of the date will also be held later that day at the Presidio at the Junípero Serra Museum.
In 1770, the Immaculata was placed on the altar of San Diego's presidio chapel, according to historian and author James L. Nolan. Later, parishioners moved her and other religious artifacts from the presidio to the Casa de Estudillo in Old Town, and then, in 1858, to the Adobe Chapel. The sculpture remained the centerpiece of that altar for 55 years. It was transported yet again in 1919 to the nearby Church of the Immaculate Conception. After 1945, her whereabouts were generally unknown.
During the 1970s, Nolan traced the history and movements of the statue and other presidio chapel artifacts. In his 1978 book Discovery of the Lost Art Treasures of California's First Mission, he tracked the religious items to the Mission San Luis Rey Museum, where today they form one of the Southwest's finest collections of Spanish Colonial art.
The statue's condition is fairly good for an artifact of its age, but the San Luis Rey Mission museum is seeking funds to restore this and other items from the presidio chapel. "The need to preserve these art treasures may be justified on their merit as works of art alone…," but also for the insights they offer into San Diego's cultural history, Nolan wrote.
"The Immaculata represents a real and tangible connection to the city's early residents and their cultural and spiritual lives," said Bruce Coons, SOHO's executive director and historian. "It is especially fitting that, after an absence of over 100 years, this highly venerated statue returns to the Adobe Chapel in commemoration of San Diego's 250th year."
The chapel altar also holds the original tabernacle from the presidio chapel. Historic photographs guided SOHO in recreating the altar's appearance and surroundings. SOHO reproduced the chapel's tin sconces and rehung 19th-century, wood-framed Stations of the Cross in their historic positions. The authentic result enables visitors to view the Immaculate Conception sculpture almost as it appeared in the late 1800s.
SOHO operates the Adobe Chapel for the City of San Diego as a museum and community performance space. The building has survived an uneven history: It was constructed as a house in 1850, converted to a chapel in 1858, razed for road realignment in the 1930s, and rebuilt with salvaged original elements in 1937 as a Works Progress Administration project. SOHO began restoring and managing the chapel in 2004.
After July 16, the Adobe Chapel, at 3963 Conde Street in Old Town San Diego, will be open free to visitors on Saturdays and Sundays from 10am to 5pm and on weekdays by appointment. The statue will not be on view during October. For more information visit SOHOsandiego.org
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