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Duns Scotus in Mexico The Scottish medieval theologian and scholastic philosopher, Blessed Duns Scotus, was also a Franciscan. In his voluminous writings, the "subtle doctor" as he was known, defended the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, a belief long championed by the Franciscan order.
While commonly portrayed with his works and an image of the Virgin, in Mexico Duns Scotus is shown in at least two unusual representations with added wings, triumphing over heretics and a monstrous, multi headed Lucifer.
Izamal, Yucatan
Among the many other artistic treasures of the great Franciscan monastery of Izamal, is a recently restored colonial painting of a winged Duns Scotus, gesturing to his writings and holding up a statue of the Virgin Mary while trampling on the hideous snake like Lucifer, various heretics and Lutheran reformers, a feature common to much religious imagery of the Counter Reformation.Landa ceiling relief
Landa, Querétaro
Another, similar portrayal of Duns Scotus appears in a ceiling relief in the nave of La Purísima de Aguas de Landa, a mission church in the remote Sierra Gorda de Querétaro. Landa, together with four other churches in the region celebrated for their painted folkloric fronts, was founded in the 1750s by a group of Apostolic Franciscans from Majorca, including Fray Junipero Serra, founder of many of the California missions.Again winged, he holds up an image of the Virgin in one hand and a plumed pen in the other, a reference to his famous dogma, and treads upon the head of heretics and a winged Lucifer. This portrayal of Duns Scotus is of special interest since he also appears on the facade of the church in another guise, paired with the visionary Franciscan nun Sor Maria de Agreda.
It is instructive to note that Duns Scotus was a special favorite of Junipero Serra, who had held the Duns Scotus chair of theology at Lullian University in Palma, Majorca, before he took up missionary work in Mexico.
To our knowledge these are the only two such portrayals of Duns Scotus in Mexico. If anyone knows of any others we shall be interested to hear from them.
- Text and pictures ©2012 by Richard D. Perry.
- See our other pages on Izamal and the Sierra Gorda
- fFr more on the colonial Yucatan see Maya Missions
- For more on the Sierra Gorda and colonial Queretaro, consult our guidebook Blue Lakes & Silver Cities