Puebla. San Jerónimo Coyula

Following our post on St Jerome, we now visit a church dedicated to the saint.

Located near the historic Pueblan town of Atlixco, and best known for its former grand hacienda, now in ruins, San Jerónimo Coyula is also home to a later colonial parish church.

The renovated church front features a plain arched entry flanked by paired spiral columns on two levels. 

The gable is rimmed by an arched cornice and encloses a shell niche containing a battered statue of the patron in a penitential pose—kneeling while mortifying himself with a stone beside a lion, his animal companion. 

Folkloric reliefs of archangels stand on either side, while a large, fanciful relief of a rampant lion brackets the gable on its south side.
   A handsome two tier bell tower flanks the facade on its north side, the elongated openings framed by estípite pilasters with mask like capitals.

Cut stone crosses cap the gable and stand in the adjacent cloister patio.

text © 2022 Richard D. Perry

photography  courtesy of Niccolo Brooker and Diana Roberts