http://religionnewsblog.com/9941/Mexicans-petition-modern-saints
Mexicans petition modern saints
Houston Chronicle, Jan. 15, 2005
Ion Grillo, Chronicle Foreign Service
www.chron.com
In one cathedral, faithful pray to the Captured Infant for the
safe release of kidnap victims By IOAN GRILLO
MEXICO CITY - Yolanda Contreras lay a bouquet of white roses at
the base of the 3-foot-high statue known as the Holy Captured
Infant and then fell to her knees and prayed that her nephew would
be freed from his kidnappers.
Contreras, 49, said her sister's son had been nabbed by thugs on
his way home from a private high school at the beginning of
December.
The family could not afford to pay the $30,000 ransom that the
kidnappers were demanding, and the police had found no leads on
the abduction, Contreras said.
Now the family was praying for divine intervention.
"God and the Captured Infant will bring him home safely,"
Contreras said, holding back tears.
With private security firms estimating there are as many as 2,000
kidnappings a year in Mexico, hundreds of distressed families have
prayed for the freedom of their loved ones.
Many go to the Captured Infant, or Santo Nino Cautivo, a statue of
the infant Jesus in Mexico City's Metropolitan Cathedral, which
has become the unofficial patron of kidnap victims.
The Captured Infant is one of several saints and religious symbols
that Mexicans have adopted in recent decades for help with the
kinds of tribulations they face in the 21st century. They include
Juan the Soldier of Tijuana, whose spirit is believed to protect
migrants who cross illegally into the United States, and Jesus
Malverde of Sinaloa, who some say is the saint of drug
traffickers.
"People want saints and symbols that reflect their environment.
And kidnappings and drug traffickers are part of the modern
Mexico," said Carlos Garma, an anthropologist at Mexico's
Autonomous University. "But the principle is the same as the old
saints. People go to them for help."
The Captured Infant is believed to be of special help to kidnap
victims because it was once kidnapped itself.
Statue's folkloric origin
According to a plaque in the Metropolitan Cathedral, Spanish
sculptor Juan Martinez carved the statue at the dawn of the 17th
century and gave it to a doctor named Francisco Sandoval to bring
to Mexico. But on his journey, Sandoval was captured by pirates
and held prisoner for years along with the Infant.
Finally in 1622, the statue and the dead body of Sandoval arrived
at the cathedral, it says on the plaque, although it does not say
who delivered them.
"Francisco Sandoval fulfilled his promise to take the statue to
Mexico but only after his death," it says.
10-15 visitors a week
Though the Captured Infant has been in the cathedral for nearly
four centuries, it has become a patron for kidnap victims only in
the last few years, said the Rev. Ruben Avila, the rector of the
cathedral.
"The growing insecurity in the city has made people come to the
Infant for aid," Avila said.
The rise in kidnappings in Mexico is part of a violent crime wave
that has engulfed the nation since a 1994 recession threw millions
of people out of work. Last June, a quarter of a million people
marched through Mexico City demanding police clamp down on violent
crimes such as kidnappings.
Nowadays, 10 to 15 people come to the Infant every week to pray
for help for abducted family members, Avila said. Others also come
to ask the patron for help to free themselves or a family member
from drug addiction and alcoholism.
Salvador Benitez, a 47-year old carpenter, visits the Infant
regularly to ask for the strength to stay away from liquor.
"Sometimes we are captives in our own minds, prisoners of our own
addictions," Benitez said.
Expression of faith
Theologian Mathias Nebel of the Ibero-American University said the
tradition of people adopting unofficial patron saints and symbols
to help them against specific problems goes back to the
Catholicism practiced in Mediterranean Europe before the conquest
of America.
In medieval Spain, Portugal and Italy, many people prayed to
special saints to save them from the latest plagues or to help
them find husbands, he said.
"Most of the time, the church tolerates popular saints and
symbols," Nebel said. "Sometimes they will even be made official."
However, if people choose to worship a symbol or saint like a God,
they are no longer behaving in accordance with Catholic teachings,
Nebel said.
"There are cases of people making local saints into deities,"
Nebel said. "This is clearly paganism."
Avila said that officials of the archdiocese of Mexico City are
sympathetic to families of kidnap victims going to the Holy
Captured Infant for help.
"People need the faith to cope with these tragedies," Avila said.
"We are living in difficult times."
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