In 1656 the civil and religious authorities of Lima organized a parade to dedicate the city to the Immaculate Conception. Images of Aristotle, Plato, Euclid, and Archemedes led the procession; the impresas and floats that followed sought to draw moral connections between pagan deities, such as Mercury and Minerva, and the Virgin Mary. As the festivities continued, the cathedral chapter signed a contract with a leading ceramist to put tiles depicting the naked Bacchus and Ceres on the walls of the chapel to the Immaculate Conception, where they can still be seen. The theologian in charge of the designs, Vasco de Contreras Valverde, thought that Bacchus stood for the spiritual intoxication experienced by mystics. Ceres, the goddess of agriculture who went to the netherworld searching for her daughter Proserpine, symbolized the bread of the Eucharist as well as the Church of Peru’s willingness to scour the underground for improperly converted...

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