San Germán de Auxerre Church
About
The church of San Germán de Auxerre (French Saint of the 5th century) bears its name in honor of Doña Germana de Foix, second wife of King Ferdinand the Catholic. It is located on a mound dominating the Francisco Mariano Quiñones public square, in the center of town, and facing the old town hall. The original structure was made of wood and straw.
Its form has followed the same process of our Churches of the seventeenth century, whose styles cannot be appreciated in our days because they have been destroyed and rebuilt on several occasions. The neoclassical aspect that it has today dates from the reconstruction of 1878.
The property consists of 3 large naves, 10 altars, a portico, and a tower with its bell tower, which had to be rebuilt in 1959.
This church has a sober decoration and coffered ceiling in geometric and three-dimensional shapes. The altars are all made of white marble, while the baptismal font is wound in pink marble carried from Tarragona, Spain, in 1866. Also from this same year is the sumptuous 100-light crystal chandelier that was donated by Doña Filomena Quiñones and her sister-in-law. Mrs. Dolores Dávila de Quiñones.
The image of the patron saint was also installed in October 1866, that of San Rafael in 1885, that of Our Lady of Providence in 1913, the Sacred Heart in 1915 and that of the miraculous, Santa Rita, Santa Mónica and that of the consolation with San Agustín, in the 1930s.
In the choir area there was a small museum where the monstrance that King Carlos III gave to the parish church was preserved. The preaching pulpit, painted by the famous Sangermeño santeros (the sword), today restored, is in the Alfredo Ramírez de Arellano y Rosell museum, on Esperanza street.
It is worth mentioning the chapel of Cristo de la Salud in San Juan and the churches of San Mateo de Cangrejos in Santurce, as well as that of Bayamón and Coamo, this constitutes one of the outstanding works of religious architecture of the 18th century in Puerto Rico.