Those Places Thursday: Mission San José, San Antonio, Texas

Mission San José y San Miguel de Aguayo in San Antonio, Texas, was my parish church in the summer of 1978.  This historic Catholic Church was then under the operation of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, and I worked there that summer as a park ranger intern.  The church was and still is an active Catholic parish; the state (was, and now, the National Park Service, which took over in 1983, is) responsible for maintenance and operation of the surrounding mission structures and grounds.

My family came to visit me that summer.  At left, my brothers Mark and Brian (in back), sister Mary, aunt Sister Jean Marie (in front) and parents Gerrie and Fred Pape stand in front of the beautiful wooden doors at the intricate facade of the church, carved between 1768 and 1777.

Below left, my family (now with my grandmother, Sara Archibald), stands in front of the Rose Window (aka Rosa's Window), which looks out from the sacristry and was carved by Pedro Huizar.  A year and a half later, in January 1980, my cousin Donna Pape came to visit Texas, so of course I had to take her to Mission San José.



Above and at right are photos of me during the time I worked at the state and national historic site, in my two uniforms.

I don't have any photos of the interior of the church from the time I was there.  The Archdiocese of San Antonio completed a renovation of the interior in 2011, including restoration of the upper dome, new colors and textures to match the original interior design, stabilization of walls, and a new retablo behind the altar. It's pictured below.

Altar at Mission San Jose, San Antonio, Texas, December 27, 2011,
by Mike Fisher, BFS Man (Own work) [CC-BY-2.0], via Flickr

This post is for a series on "Doors of Faith" at the Catholic Gene blog.

© Amanda Pape - 2012 - click here to e-mail me.