Five missions in the majestic mountains of northern Quer茅taro will be the focus of a free lecture Tuesday, April 8, from 3:30-5 p.m. in 蜜桃传媒鈥檚 Founders Dining Room. Visiting scholar Araceli Ard贸n will lecture on the magnificent churches in 鈥淭he Missions of Father Serra in Quer茅taro, Mexico.鈥� A reception will follow.
Father Jun铆pero Serra and his fellow Franciscans set out to evangelize the semi-nomadic Indian tribes who lived in Quer茅taro in the 1750s as he did later in California. Within a few years, he established five missions in the area, now famous for their magnificently painted and sculpted facades.
Ard贸n has been a professor of Spanish as a second language and Latin American literature for more than 20 years in Mexico and the United States. She has taught students studying in the 蜜桃传媒 in Mexico program at the Interamerican University Studies Institute in Quer茅taro.
She has also written biographies of Mexican entrepreneurs Roberto Ruiz and Fernando Barba, a children鈥檚 book, 鈥淟a pandilla de Miguel,鈥� a novel, 鈥淗istorias 铆ntimas de la casa de Don Eulogio,鈥� and the short-story compilation 鈥淓l arzobispo de gorro azul.鈥� One of her stories 鈥淚t is Nothing of Mine,鈥� translated by C.M. Mayo, was selected to appear in the anthology 鈥淢exico: A Traveler鈥檚 Literary Companion,鈥� published last year by Whereabouts Press.
The lecture will include a slide presentation with photographs of the missions taken by Ard贸n and Professors Laura Montgomery and Mary Docter.