Ciáurriz presented his book about the Parochial Church of Our Lady of Consolation, located in San Cristóbal (Dominican Republic), last February 24. It deals with the oldest ministry of the Augustinian Recollects in this country, in which they set foot in 1927. Likewise, it is one of the principal tourist attractions of the Dominican Republic because of its murals found in its interior and the dimension of the Church, known to be the “ Cathedral of San Cristóbal.”
The Augustinian Recollect journalist highlighted that “the principal object of the work is no other than to do justice to the forgotten memory of the painter José Vela Zanetti.” In fact, the book reproduces in colored pages the 26 great murals that the Spanish painter—the painter of other murals at the UN headquarters in New York- realized in this Church in 1949.
All the paintings are impactful and colorful, and in general, they represent Gospel scenes, except for the painting on the cross-vault, dedicated to Saint Augustine. Vela Zanetti painted it, bearing in mind the Augustinian Recollect community, who had helped him and who honored him with their friendship. It represents the death of the Saint. Augustine, on his deathbed, is vested with episcopal ornaments, while another bishop recites the last prayers and a group of Augustinian Recollect friars weep for their loss.
The book has been subsidized by the office of the provincial senator, Tommy Galán, who attended the book launching, with the bishop of the Baní Diocese, Freddy Antonio de Jesús Bretón Martínez, and other personalities.
The “Cathedral of San Cristóbal” has an added historical interest. It was erected by the order of the president Rafael Leonidas Trujillo (1930-1961), a native of San Cristóbal, who wanted to have it as his burial place. In fact, he was buried in its crypt for some months.