Side of the Cathedral of San José, which is part of the ruins complex, previously part of the temple.

Among chapels, hermitages, churches and prayer houses

Among chapels, hermitages, churches and prayer houses
In La Antigua Guatemala it is intriguing to find so many religious buildings set apart with such a small distance one from the other; but not all of them are churches. There is a difference among each building.

The chapels are commonly found right next to schools or religious communities. They are not of big size and its purpose is specially to take care of the members of a religious order or congregation. Its objective is usually that, candidates or members are not bound to step out in order to receive the sacraments.

The praying houses are private places, of particular families, which seek a privileged place where they can pray and where a mass can be celebrated. This responds to specific requirements of the Catholic Church. They can even be part or an extension of a church. They are authorized by an Archbishop.

The hermitages, on the other hand, can be bigger than but not as big as churches. They are small temples on which religious ceremonies are not celebrated but where they pay cult in particular occasions. They are usually found in inhabited places or without too much concurrence. They are at the service of religious congregations and not to the access of the general public.

And the churches, as such, with their size they pretend to welcome a bigger number of churchgoers, besides celebrating mass frequently.

One of the concepts that is usually misunderstood is the difference between a church and a parish.

The parish is a church that serves a specific group of a geographic region, on which there can be several churches and which serves the sacraments.

The Cathedral, according to the hierarchy is higher, as well as in size, reuniting administrative functions for the parishes and churches in the territory. It also includes a much complete and defined structure, under the supervision of a Bishop.

And so, many of the existing temples in La Antigua Guatemala were not accessible to the public, on the contrary, they were private and for the different congregations or religious orders, some with the disposition of seclusion.

Since certain differences respond to the frequency of the celebration of sacraments, some temples have changed through the course of the years, from hermitages to parishes.