Time-Life - Miracles of Faith - USA (2018-12)

86 TIME-LIFE MIRACLES OF FAITH

FOLK SAINTS

LOCAL

WORSHIP

LatinAmericanCatholics

have a unique relationship with

theirsaints,notallofwhomare

sanctioned by the Church

F

or much of the four centuries that Latin

Americans have practiced Catholicism, they

have venerated not only the Church’s official

saints but also more than a few of their own

whom the Vatican doesn’t recognize. These

folk saints may have lived their lives as traditional healers,

political figures, local heroes, indigenous deities from older

religious traditions, or simply extraordinarily compassion-

ate individuals. Some are fictitious characters.

Believers flock to elaborate chapels and roadside

shrines erected in the folk saints’ honor to pray for small

miracles: a new apartment, relief from a toothache, or oth-

er everyday requests. Offerings often relate to the saints’

own stories or to the mystical powers they are said to pos-

sess: Difunta Correa of Argentina, who died of thirst in

the 1830s, regularly receives bottles of water from suppli-

cants hoping for safe travels. Guatemalan schoolchildren

offer books, notebooks, and pencils to Pedro Sangueso,

murdered in 1963 at age 6 and believed to help them with

their studies.

Some folk saints are even said to safeguard those on

the wrong side of the law. Sarita Colonia, who in the early

20th century miraculously escaped a rape attempt, suppos-

edly watches out for prostitutes in Peru; while in Mexico,

Jesús Malverde, a possibly fictional late-1800s bandit who

stole from the rich to give to the poor, is believed to grant

favors to drug traffickers. Drug traffickers also venerate

San Pascualito Muerte.

Many folk saints are generalists, thought to deal in all

human hopes and worries from romance to finance. Oth-

ers have particular areas of expertise, such as warfare or

agriculture. A common specialty is curing the sick.

In the 1890s, the people of Juazeiro, Brazil, spread the

word that a local priest named Cícero Romão Batista of-

fered a remarkable communion service: The bread he

used for the Catholic holy ritual turned to blood in pa-

rishioners’ mouths. Padre Cícero was said to have mirac-

ulous healing powers, and today millions of ailing Brazil-

EVERYDAY SAINT

Jesús Malverde is seen as a

Robin Hood figure to many

in Culiacán, Sinaloa, Mexico.

Known for stealing from

the rich and giving to the

poor, he is also considered a

protector of drug traffickers.

MARY AND THE SAINTS