Detail View: Santo Collection:

Creator display: 
Herrera, Nicholas (American santero, born 1964)
Creator note: 
lifeOSAU, p. 138
Creator role: 
creator
Date display: 
1998
Title: 
Santísima Trinidad
Title: 
Holy Trinity
Description: 
Figure with one torso and three heads representing the mystery of the Holy Trinity, wearing robes depicting a dove, sun, and cross. A black oval with celestial imagery covers the foot area.
Note Fr. Steele: 
"natural pigments (?), piñon varnish on pine panel adzed on front, two little leglets on bottom, lunette and finials of a sort on top."|"one huge torso, two arms, three heads. 'Jesus' in triple loop at bottom."
Inscription: 
on front: Nicholas H 98 / Santísima Trinidad
Location name: 
El Rito
Location name: 
New Mexico
Location name: 
Cibola (county)
Materials display: 
pigment, piñon varnish on adzed pine panel
Material name: 
pigment
Material name: 
pine (wood)
Source name: 
Thomas J. Steele, S.J.: The Regis University Collection of New Mexico and Colorado Santos.
Subject term: 
Holy Trinity
Work type: 
retablos (panel paintings)
Acquisition note: 
1998, RU0381-RU0385 purchased at Plaza Resolana auction
Accession number: 
RU0381
Measurements display: 
33.3 x 24.3 cm
Santo Subject: 
Santisima Trinidad (The Holy Trinity)
Santo Subject Type: 
Divine Subjects
Feast Day: 
The Sunday after Pentecost Patronage: Enlightenment; favors of immediate need; thanksgiving; faith, harmony, and peace; protection against all enemies and temptations; deliverance from locusts, earthquakes, and famine
Note: 
These three divine persons in numerically one nature constitute the deepest mystery of the Christian faith. The Father is the first person, the Word became man as Jesus of Nazareth, the Holy Spirit dwells in the Church and in each Christian. 1a. The Father as an old man sits at the viewer's right, the Son as a young man sits at the Father's right hand, and the Holy Spirit as a dove hovers between and above them. This is the mode of representation the Roman Catholic Church fostered. 1b. The "Pietà" Trinity with the Father holding the dead Christ while the Spirit as dove hovers overhead. The Church tolerates this depiction but does not foster it. 1c. Three equal or even identical men. When shown as three identical men, the emblem of the sun marks the Father, the lamb the Son, a dove or a tongue of fire the Spirit; they often hold a bar, chain, or lightning bolt. Until 1928, the Church did not foster but tolerated this depiction because of the Orthodox analogues (cf. Andrey Rublev's masterpiece of the 16th century) and because of the biblical source in Genesis 18; in 1928, the Church forbade it, no reason given. 1d. Three chests and heads growing from a single lower torso. Saint Antoninus of Florence (d. 1449) described this depiction as "a monstrosity by the very nature of things," and on 11 August 1628 Pope Urban VIII issued a condemnation which was repeated by Benedict XIV on 1 October 1745. See Chapter VI, endnote 2; Donna Pierce, "Holy Trinity," New Mexico Studies in the Fine Arts 3 (1978), 29-33.
Rights text: 
IN COPYRIGHT - EDUCATIONAL USE PERMITTED