Quito Metropolitan Cathedral

The square links the cathedral with the Archbishop's Palace, and church services here stood alongside the diocese's day-to-day administration. Inside is the cathedra from which the archbishop conducts the most important services and leads the clergy. One of Quito's archbishops is buried in St. Peter's Chapel. In the cathedral's history, there was a period when it was closed for four months and services were moved to other churches in the city.

On the morning of Good Friday, March thirtieth, eighteen seventy-seven, José Ignacio Checa y Barba conducted the day's principal service here. He was the Archbishop of Quito and defended the church's independence from government interference. This church is called a cathedral precisely because it contains the archbishop's cathedra: from here, he leads the clergy of his diocese and conducts the most important services.

Six months earlier, General Ignacio de Veintimilla had come to lead the country after a coup. He wanted to change the order established by Ecuador's agreement with Rome, under which the Catholic Church retained broad independence. On March first, Veintimilla ordered services in churches for people who had died fighting the former regime. Priests believed that the government was directing their altars. Sharp sermons, an attempt to expel one of the Franciscans, and street clashes followed. Checa y Barba refused negotiations with Veintimilla and led the clergy's resistance.

A few weeks later, both men found themselves in the same cathedral. Veintimilla and other government dignitaries attended the service conducted by the archbishop. After Communion, Checa y Barba drank the wine intended for rinsing the chalice. On Good Friday, this distinction matters: no Mass with the consecration of wine was celebrated then; bread consecrated in advance was used, and ordinary wine was used to cleanse the chalice after the rite.

The wine tasted bitter to the archbishop. He nevertheless finished the service and went to the Archbishop's Palace on the same square. There, excruciating pain and vomiting began; Checa y Barba soon died. Chemical testing found strychnine in his body, on the cloth used to wipe the chalice, and in the remaining liquid from the altar cruet. This meant that the poison had entered the items prepared for the service.

The open conflict explained why each side immediately suspected the other, but it did not prove anyone's guilt. Investigators detained liberals, canons, and cathedral attendants—people whose work gave them access to the altar vessels. No evidence sufficient for trial was found, the detainees were released, and the poisoner's name remained unknown.

Church authorities declared the cathedral desecrated and closed it for four months. Services were moved to other churches. Checa y Barba was buried here, in St. Peter's Chapel. The archbishop left his cathedral still alive—crossing the square to the palace; he was carried back for the funeral service and burial.