2010/01/01 by A. Knight · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · #Latin American history and culture #Early Modern Women Writers
paper · doi:10.1093/pastj/gtq019
openalex publication_date 2010/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/30
When it comes to relics, sacred and secular, Latin America seems a promising field. It is the largest Roman Catholic bloc in the world; moreover, those processes—such as nationalism and state-building—which tend to spawn secular relics have a longer history in Latin America than in most places. Catholicism had a 1500-year head-start in Europe, but in Latin America it faced no iconoclastic Reformation, hence the region ’ s rich heritage of ‘ baroque ’ religion: the cult of the saints, shrines, pilgrimages, cofradías , and ex-votos . 1 Indeed, the cult of the saints, derived from Spain, but hybridized by its contact with pre-Columbian religion, was stronger in Latin America than in Europe, since clerical and papal control was weaker. 2 Regarding relics, Latin America was short on originals. Old relics arrived sporadically—like the bone of St Felix, sent as a gift by Pope Urban VIII to the infant town of Atlixco (Mexico); 3 but, compared to Europe, Latin America ’ s arsenal of relics was neither extensive nor ancient. By far the most potent Catholic symbol, certainly in Mexico, has been the ‘ brown ’ Virgin of Guadalupe whose appeal, evident on altars, flags, placards, badges, T-shirts and windscreens, is ubiquitous. But these images are not relics, since they claim no direct material link to the Virgin herself. The cult does possess a ‘ secondary ’ relic: the tilma (cotton cloak) on which the Virgin ’ s image was imprinted—a sort of Mexican Turin shroud. 4 But, despite the strength of Marianism in Mexico, there are no major relics claiming a closer affinity with the Virgin; nor is this surprising, if we consider European precedent. 5 Indeed, it may be that Marianism was strong in Mexico, as it was in some parts of Europe, precisely because indigenous saints and relics were rare. 6