Cathedral of Chihuahua

In addition, the front contains a collection of monuments celebrating the twelve apostles, with a clock above, crowned with the sculpture of an angel that was added in the 19th century.

The royal Spanish coat of arms occupied the area below the angel, but was removed by architect José Félix Maceira in 1874 and the clock, which was acquired in London, was added, giving the façade its present appearance.

[3] The nave is divided from the ambulatories by arches which support the massive ceiling, and has a fine baptistry chapel on the right, or north side, just inside from the narthex.

Directly opposite, on the south side, inside the Chapel of Christ of Mapimí, is the tomb of St Peter of Jesus Maldonado, a priest and martyr who was ordained in the Cathedral Parish of Saint Patrick in El Paso, Texas, and canonised by Pope John Paul II in 2000.

The sculpture above the entrance depicts Our Lady of Regla and her supplicants, Ss Francis of Assisi and Rita of Cascia, the patrons of the city, above the Hebrews Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego in the fiery furnace (see illustration below).

The throne that the Pope used during his 1990 Mass in Chihuahua and the large and ornate former archbishops cathedra and canopy are on display, as are contemporary paintings of the cathedral and several life-sized statues of the saints, some of which are two centuries old.

Originally, Sergeant-Major Don Juan Antonio Trasviña y Retes, one of the leading Spanish citizens of the village, donated the land for the first church in the villa, where the cathedral would later stand.