San Lucas Tolimán is a

municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality ...

in the Sololá department of Guatemala. The town of 17,000 people sits on the southeastern shore of Lago de Atitlán. The population is 90–95% Highland Maya. There is a population of about the same size living in the surrounding villages. At altitude the town offers "eternal spring" with annual temperatures ranging from 50 to 80 degrees F. The dry season runs from November through June/July (called "summer" locally) and the rainy season runs the other six months ("winter"). The area is free of malaria due to its elevation. The area's elevation ranges from along the lake to at the summit of

Volcán Tolimán Tolimán is a stratovolcano in Guatemala, on the southern shores of Lake Atitlán. The volcano has an elevation of 3,158 m (10,361 ft) and was formed near the southern margin of the Pleistocene Atitlán III caldera. The top of the volcano has ...

. Volcán Tolimán is just west of town.

History

Spanish colony

After the Spanish conquest of Guatemala, San Lucas Tolimán was part of the Tecpán Atitlán "corregimiento" (English: Province) and when it turned into a major municipality in 1730, it became part of it as well; regarding the Catholic faith, this was in charge of the

franciscans , image = FrancescoCoA PioM.svg , image_size = 200px , caption = A cross, Christ's arm and Saint Francis's arm, a universal symbol of the Franciscans , abbreviation = OFM , predecessor = , ...

, who had convents and doctrines in the area covered by the modern departaments of Sacatepéquez, Chimaltenango, Sololá, Quetzaltenango, Totonicapán, Suchitepéquez and Escuintla. The "Provincia del Santísimo Nombre de Jesús" (English:"Province of the most Holy Name of Jesus"), as the Franciscan area was then called, reached up to 24 convents. In 1586, friar Alonso Ponce refers to San Lucas Tolimán as "little town". Under franciscan tenure, both in the Santiago Atitlán convent town as in the native towns in its annexed doctrines —such as San Lucas Tolimán—, there was religious teaching for 6-year-old girls and older starting at 2:00 pm and for boys of the same age starting at sunset; the class lasted for 2 hours and consisted on memorizing the church teaching and prayers and to make some exercises with the catechism and it was run by a priest or by elder natives, called "fiscales". Adults attended Mass every Sunday and holiday and after mass, there were religious teachings in their own language.

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

was a time of the year when the friars prepared the natives thoroughly, using their own language to accomplish their goals; every Friday of Lent there was a procession following the Rosary steps all the way to the Calvary temple. In 1754, as part of the

borbon reforms The Bourbon Reforms ( es, Reformas Borbónicas) consisted of political and economic changes promulgated by the Spanish Crown under various kings of the House of Bourbon, since 1700, mainly in the 18th century. The beginning of the new Crown's ...

, the Franciscans where forced to, give their doctrines to the

secular clergy In Christianity, the term secular clergy refers to deacons and priests who are not monastics or otherwise members of religious life. A secular priest (sometimes known as a diocesan priest) is a priest who commits themselves to a certain geogra ...

; thus, when archbishop Pedro Cortés y Larraz visited Panajachel in 1770, he described it as a member of the "Santiago Atitlan parish".

After independence from Spain

The town was elevated to municipality category on 2 September 1877, during the liberal regime of general

Justo Rufino Barrios Justo Rufino Barrios Auyón (19 July 1835 – 2 April 1885) was a Guatemalan politician and military general who served as President of Guatemala from 1873 to his death in 1885. He was known for his liberal reforms and his attempts to reu ...

20th century: San Lucas Mission

The area is well known as being the site of the San Lucas Tolimán Mission, overseen by the Roman Catholic Diocese of New Ulm in the city of New Ulm, Minnesota, which is a suffragan see in the

Ecclesiastical Province An ecclesiastical province is one of the basic forms of jurisdiction in Christian Churches with traditional hierarchical structure, including Western Christianity and Eastern Christianity. In general, an ecclesiastical province consists of sev ...

of the

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis The Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis ( la, Archidiœcesis Paulopolitana et Minneapolitana) is a Latin Church ecclesiastical jurisdiction or diocese of the Catholic Church in the United States. It is led by an archbishop who administer ...

. The Mission was founded in the 1960s by

Monsignor Monsignor (; it, monsignore ) is an honorific form of address or title for certain male clergy members, usually members of the Roman Catholic Church. Monsignor is the apocopic form of the Italian ''monsignore'', meaning "my lord". "Monsignor" ca ...

Gregory Thomas Schaffer, who was responsible for starting up a series of education, health, and agriculture initiatives, including the granting of 3 acres of land each to 4,000 families, the launch of medical clinics, and the start of a fair-price coffee initiative. Katie Wallyn, a missionary for the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

from

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the List of U.S. states and territories by population, 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minne ...

, has been helping the downtrodden their with her foundation L.E.A.S.T, helping the elderly with a loving manner. Monsignor Schaffer encouraged a group of his lay volunteers to found Agua del Pueblo (AdP). AdP is the oldest non governmental organization dedicated to water supply and sanitation in the world. Following the death of Monsignor Schaffer at the age of 78 in St. Paul of a rare form of

lymphoma Lymphoma is a group of blood and lymph tumors that develop from lymphocytes (a type of white blood cell). In current usage the name usually refers to just the cancerous versions rather than all such tumours. Signs and symptoms may include enl ...

, a new group called the "Friends of San Lucas" has been appointed to continue the work in the area.

21st century

On 13 October 2015, the Santiago Atitlán Courthouse issued a warrant for the arrest of the still mayor of San Lucas Tolimán, Oscar Pic Solís, for several charges; municipality secretary, Gaspar Cholotió Hernández, and treasurer, Alberto Cumes Cali were also arrested. Pic Solis had been mayor since 2007, with the Unidad Nacional de la Esperanza party, but he was not re-elected in the 2015 elections.

Territory

San Lucas Tolimán has an area of 116 km² and is divided as follows:

Climate

San Lucas Tolimán has tropical climate ( Köppen: ''Aw'').

Geographic location

Located 42 km south of department capital, Sololá, Sololá.

Notes and references

References

Bibliography

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External links

San Lucas Mission
{{DEFAULTSORT:San Lucas Toliman Municipalities of the Sololá Department