While working on the second edition of my book, I asked the members of the Professional Tour Guide Association of San Antonio for their input. One of the members, Barbara Maxwell, asked me if I knew about the three painted churches in downtown San Antonio.

I guessed St. Joseph’s, St. Mary’s and San Fernando. She said that the first two were correct, but San Fernando didn’t fit the profile. German and Czech immigrants who arrived in Texas in the mid-1800s built the painted churches. (San Fernando was completed by Spaniards in the mid-1700s.) Immaculate Heart of Mary Church at 617 South Santa Rosa was number three.

I passed by the church for more than 20 years on my way to and from work, but I had never stopped and gone inside. Immaculate Heart of Mary is located along Interstate 35 on the western edge of downtown, just south of Market Square. I’m grateful to Barbara for her recommendation because the church’s interior is stunning.

Built by the Claretian Missionaries in 1912, the Byzantine and Romanesque-style church is filled with lofty arches set atop sturdy pillars. The real showstopper, however, is the church’s paint. The color blue has always been associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and the shade of blue on the Immaculate Heart of Mary’s walls and ceiling is one of the prettiest I’ve ever seen. It’s the same green-blue that graces Our Lady of Guadalupe’s mantle (tilma).

Besides its striking interior, the church boasts a special piece of Texas’ history. The original bell from San Fernando Cathedral hangs in IHM’s bell tower, and it’s the bell that broadcasted the fall of the Alamo on March 6, 1836. IHM inherited the bell after San Fernando purchased four new bells for its towers in 1904.

Check out Immaculate Heart of Mary yourself! Masses are at 8 a.m. (Spanish) and 5:30 p.m. (English) on Saturdays; 9 a.m. (English), 10:30 a.m. (Spanish), noon (Spanish), and 5 p.m. (Spanish) on Sundays; and at noon (Spanish) on Mondays through Fridays. Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament is the First Friday of every month from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Denise Barkis Richter, Ph.D., author of “San Antonio’s Passport to Fun,” has been blogging about San Antonio since June of 2010. Follow her at facebook.com/SanAntonioTourist so that you’ll never miss a post. Her love affair with the Alamo City began at Hemisfair in 1968. She moved to San Antonio in 1979 as an 18-year-old college student, and San Antonio has been her home ever since. Denise completed certification to become a professional tour guide in 2019. Please contact her at sanantoniotourist at gmail dot com if you’d like for her to curate a fabulous San Antonio experience for you!