17 5 / 2012
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I want these officers to be familiar and aware this is going on and I want them to be familiar with the different icons. That way when they do encounter these things during an investigation or a traffic stop, I want their safety awareness to go up. What I’m very proud of is that this training has actually led to the arrest and confiscation of drugs and drug money and the discovery of other illegal activity. But there’s still work to be done. Santa Muerte is the most popular icon being used by the criminals today.
The use of Santa Muerte has spread throughout the United States like wild fire. She’s not a Catholic saint. She’ll never be a Catholic saint. She’s an icon. A lot of people consider her the angel of death.
—U.S. Marshal Robert AlmonteMarshal Almonte travels around the country teaching law enforcement about the church’s canonized saints and false saints, like Santa Muerte, which celebrates death.
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Criminals Praying For Protection From Law Enforcement | KTSM News Channel 9
The first day of each month in a neighborhood outside of Mexico City, thousands of people gather for a procession in honor of Santa Muerte.
“Some of them are crawling on their knees to an actual shrine of Santa Muerte as an offering,” said Marshal Almonte. “At one point during this procession, everybody stops and they pray and what they’re praying is the rosary. Usually you pray the rosary to the Virgin Mary.”
“It became obvious to me that with a lot of these people Santa Muerte is more popular than the Virgin Mary, with a lot of these people, Santa Muerte is more popular than Jesus Christ himself.”
Monsignor Banuelas said it’s hard to imagine that everyone who worships the Santa Muerte understands her meaning.
“I think if people knew that Santa Muerte stand for murder, and death, and torture and kidnapping and extortion, they would not see any religious aspect to it,” said Monsignor Banuelas. “There’s nothing religious about the Santa Muerte.”
18 4 / 2012
Face. Eyes. Life.
(Source: theonlymagicleftisart, via chacal-la-chaise)
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11 3 / 2012
Religious Statues Left Behind Find Their Own Patron Saint
A makeup artist gathers homeless religious statues in a shuttered Catholic church that he owns, and then restores them to their former ethereal state.
(H)e dabs a paintbrush to a faded life-size statue of the patron saint of those who work in explosives. Nearby, a tired St. Anthony of Padua, patron of lost things, awaits his own appointment, as does a worn St. Rose of Lima, once known for her beauty but now, in the estimation of Mr. McClung, “a big hot mess.”
His words convey affection, not irreverence. Mr. McClung, a makeup artist by trade, has become a sort of patron saint of religious statues left behind. He gathers them in a shuttered Catholic church that he owns, then restores them to their former ethereal state — to when people seeking intervention gazed with hope into their glass eyes.
“It’s a calling,” says Mr. McClung, whose rescue mission provides one answer to an awkward question: Where do the religious statues go once their churches close?
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27 12 / 2011
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15 12 / 2011
Fiestas Guadalupanas celebrated on both sides of the El Paso-Juárez border
A procession of worshipers started out from Ysleta Elementary School and ended at the Ysleta Mission Church for a Mass honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe. The Fiesta Guadalupana restarted three years ago in observance of an old tradition, said Rita Lopez, Mount Carmel Parish secretary and procession organizer. The celebration included matachines and charro riders on horses, as well as a market with food and arts and crafts outside the historic mission. More celebrations continued Monday, including a procession in Juarez.
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13 12 / 2011
allaboutmary asked: Happy feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe!
thank you! a blessed holiday season to you as well.
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12 12 / 2011
(via Who is Our Lady of Guadalupe? - Guest Voices - The Washington Post)
(A)s the elders in our families remind us, La Señora de Guadalupe is also known by many names, including most prominently by the beloved name La Conquista. This means, Our Lady Who Conquers all Hearts. She is also patroness of those who have been hurt, Our Lady of the Conquered. Although to many she represents the Virgin Mary of Christianity, to others, she represents the feminine divine in all, the female incarnation of holiness. Because she appeared not to highest of high, richest, most powerful, most intellectual, but rather to an native healer who called himself ‘but a little rope, a tiny leaf’ compared to her magnitude… for us who are old believers, this compassionate fire of her ever merciful love catches on our deadwood and we begin to burn brighter in our lives. Our Lady seems to often come to those of us who are in some way, too, frayed little ropes, tiny leaves blown about. Thus, she is known too, as Reweaver of the Unraveled. Calm Center of the Storm.
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12 12 / 2011
Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared to St. Juan Diego in Mexico in 1531. It was due to her appearance that the practise (sic) of human sacrifices ended.
The Aztecs had no written language, but they read the meaning in pictures and symbols just as we read newspapers. This image told the Aztecs volumes. The woman stands in front of the sun, and is therefore greater than their sun god Huitzlipochtli. She stands upon the moon, and is therefore greater than the moon god, Tezcatlipoca. She is held aloft by a winged person, which means she is a heavenly being, yet her hands are joined in prayer, which means there is one greater than she. The mantle’s bluishgreen color is reserved to Aztec divinity, yet her eyes are lowered, which means she is not a goddess herself. The sash at her waist was worn by pregnant women in Aztec culture, thus the child she carries is divine. The white fur at the neck and sleeves and the gold border are marks of royalty for the Aztecs. The stars on her mantle and the angel “carrying” her represent a new era being carried in. Touching the edge of a cloak represents a kiss, thus the angel is “kissing” the lady. The broach at her throat has the same black cross carried by Cortés and the Spanish Friars.
Because she is pregnant, Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of pregnant mothers and their unborn children. Her appearance, as mentioned, ended the Aztec practise (sic) of human sacrifice. Through prayer and the intercession of Our Lady, we can change our culture of death into a culture of life.
(via senses-all-inclusive)
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