The Gravedigger of Old Town

The Gravedigger of Old Town. Rafael Mamudes. Rafael Mamudes was a native of Hermosillo and led an adventurous life. He was once a baker and followed his trade to Monterey. He also mined at Calaveras County and made a sea voyage to Guaymas, Mexico. When he came here to San Diego, he supported himself by doing day labor. He owned a little plot of land on which the old cobblestone jail once stood., Legend has it that this hoary old Mexican man made a murderous attack upon his good wife. His penance was to ring the church bells whenever the occasion demanded. Rafael worked industriously chopping wood, hauling, digging wells, or cleaning them out, but his most noble work, was to dig graves every time the Angel of Death came to Old Town., This weather beaten old man was a devotee who came to be seen trundling his wheelbarrow down the road daily., Never did he miss a church service. With abject humility and self-abasement, he would bow beside the basin of the chapel and cross himself with the Holy water. He’d gaze at the alter then edge toward it in rapt devotion, before sinking to his knees in prayer., From the notes of Miss Lilian Whaley, she writes, “It was the most vivid impression upon me as he (Don Rafael) knelt one day in the little south wing of the old church, which was filled with saints and holy images. Near the door of the little confessional chamber, he leaned sideways against the wall of the room. He clasped his hands rigidly before him and grasped his rosary and crucifix. His head was thrown back. His eyes closed while agony and supplication imprinted themselves upon his brown rugged features. To complete the striking picture, a ray of sunlight streamed through the window, falling full upon his rapt unconscious face and unkempt hair, and bathing the kneeling figure with a beautiful silver halo.”