Templo Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús, Gothic Revival church in León de Los Aldama, Mexico.
The Templo Expiatorio del Sagrado Corazón de Jesús is a Gothic Revival church of pale pink and grey stone. Its facade has a tall spired tower on the right, a rose window above the left-center entrance, and lancet windows between buttresses. Inside, pointed arches on clustered columns carry ribbed vaulting, and stained glass in blue, red and yellow fills the apse above the altar.
In 1920 Father Bernardo Chávez Palacios proposed a temple to the Sacred Heart; Natalia Araujo donated her house on what is now Madero street. Bishop Emeterio Valverde y Téllez authorized it and laid the first stone on 8 July 1921, with local families donating inscribed foundation stones. Work continued for almost 91 years, ending with a ceremony led by Pope Benedict XVI on 20 March 2012.
The stained glass was made in Encarnación de Díaz, Jalisco, and in León at Rodolfo Gutiérrez's workshop. The side windows show the Annunciation, the Nativity, Calvary, Pentecost and the Ascension; behind the altar is Christ, King of the Universe. Two crossing windows depict the city of León and St. Peter's Basilica.
The temple stands within the Parish of the Divine Redeemer, in the San Sebastián deanery. The crypt level holds seven catacombs with 1,919 niches, reached through the foundation voids; the foundations themselves go down 12 metres. Visitors can look for the bronze doors on the facade, cast in Monterrey and lined with relief panels by José Carlos Ituarte González.
The bronze doors of the main facade, cast in Monterrey and sculpted by José Carlos Ituarte González, depict the Creation and the Annunciation on the left and the Descent of the Holy Spirit on the right, with texts from the Eucharistic Prayer IV and the Creed.
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