Three North Mexican Folk Saint Movements

Abstract

In each of the three cases presented, the changing role of the folk saint as well as the development of the movement indicate that a four-stage transformation is in operation:(1) The ‘call’ by means of a supernatural experience or ‘vocational struggle’ occurs in the future folk saint's life and initiates his career.(2) Offering a practical religion with solutions to physical and personal problems, the saint attracts individuals who are seeking such solace and remedy. Common purpose, journey and encampment near the curer foster group identity.(3)Myths about the miracle worker grow in the group and circulate abroad, intensifying group solidarity and attracting new adherents. Administrators and would-be exploiters enter. A transcendent ideology is introduced with social, political, and religious ramifications. These may be at once restorative and innovative. The success of the folk saint spawns other saints who also attract followers.(4) External, traditional power structures are threatened, and retaliate by applying political pressure, so that the last stage sees the decline and eclipse of the movement, and the loss of its innovative elements. The saint, no longer a potential secular power, devotes himself to curing, thus reemphasizing the culturally defined, traditional role of curandero or hitolio.

Betwixt and Between: The Cult of Living Saints in Contemporary Bulgaria

“…Wilson [1983], where a specialized bibliography on the cult of saints is provided. Pioneer anthropological studies of Christian folk saints include articles by Romano [1965] and Macklin and Crumrine [1973], dealing with Latin American material, and Christian Jr. [1973], based on Western European cults. More important subsequent contributions in the field are the book by Best [1983], the symposium papers on saints and near-saints edited by Macklin and Margolies [1988], and the case studies of Padre Cícero Romão Batista (1844( -1934 by Slater [1986], Fray Leopoldo de Alpandeire (1864-1956 by Slater [1990], and Padre Pio da Pietralcina (1887-1968 by McKevitt [1991a and1991b].…”

“Shaking Out the Mat”: Schism and Organizational Transformation at a Mexican Ark of the Virgin

“…Gabina, whom Puruarán pilgrims renamed "Mamá Salomé," was a Marian "voicebox" and a folk-saint "victim soul," receiving a steady stream of verbose locutions (messages) and taking on the sufferings of followers (Macklin and Crumrine 1973;Zimdars-Swartz 1991:266). The Virgin spoke of chastisements for sin, the ruin of the Church, the decadence of modern youth, and the Virgin's preference for peasant humility.…”

Curanderismo: An Emic theoretical perspective of Mexican‐American folk medicine1

“…The spiritual level (nivel espiritual) has gone through a recent florescence in the lower Rio Grande valley and elsewhere (also see Macklin 1967Macklin ,1974aMacklin , 1974bMacklin , 1974cMacklin , 1978and Macklin and Crumrine 1973). Publications by anthropologists who worked in the Valley some twenty years ago (Romano, Rubel, Madsen, etc.…”