MEXICO: Mexican pilgrims seek healing from local saint.

Record ID: 304936

  • Title: MEXICO: Mexican pilgrims seek healing from local saint.
  • Date: 20th March 2012
  • Summary: WOMEN LIGHTING CANDLES CAPTION FOR PHOTOGRAPH OF EL NINO FIDENCIO ON HIS DEATH BED VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WREATHS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) LOCAL RESIDENT AND EVENT ORGANIZER, ARIEL GONZALEZ, SAYING: "Belief in Fidencio keeps growing. It's something that keeps evolving and growing. There is always more need for it, for people who need answers to their problems. Their moral and physical problems. Here at this festival, we don't know exactly, but we calculate that 100-thousand to 150-thousand people have come."
  • Embargoed: 4th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Religion,Religion
  • Reuters ID: LVAETNQZ0CMH1FWK5RRGCB2ZVOAA
  • Story Text: Thousands of worshippers gather in Espinazo, Mexico to celebrate the healing powers of a local folk saint.
    Thousands of worshippers gathered in the small northern Mexican town of Espinazo, Nuevo Leon on Monday (March 19) for the feast of a local "curandero" - or folk healer - named El Nino Fidencio.
    El Nino Fidencio, who was born in 1898 and died 40 years later, is believed to have healed the sick with his extensive knowledge of local medical herbs. And many believe he still helps cure people through small religious icons called "little boxes."
    "Belief in Fidencio keeps growing," said Ariel Gonzalez, a local resident and one of the event's organizers.
    "It's something that keeps evolving and growing. There is always more need for it, for people who need answers to their problems. Their moral and physical problems. Here at this festival, we don't know exactly, but we calculate that 100-thousand to 150-thousand people have come," he added.
    According to legend, God spoke to Fidencio one day and told him he had the ability to heal, and then those who came to Fidencio were healed without pain.
    The festival began after Fidencio's death, when locals continued to come to Espinazo to be attended by his assistants.
    Although not officially recognized by the Roman Catholic Church, Fidencio's followers have formed the Fidencista Christian Church in Espinazo, where Fidencio is thought to have settled and died.
    Many followers also cover themselves in mud to symbolize the washing away of their sins and for the healing powers that Fidencio said it contained.
    "He leads us, cures us. He leads some people, but not all. He commands us to bathe ourselves, to make up for some of our sins," pilgrim Saul Rivera said.
    Victoria Munoz, a pilgrim from Piedras Negras, Coahuila, said she hoped that Fidencio would help bring peace and an end to the violence that has swept northern Mexico in recent years.
    "We are here for the peace of the world. We're living in a very difficult situation, so it's mainly for peace. Also for our lives and our health. God and the child saint (El Nino Fidencio) have accomplished many miracles for us," she said.
    The town of Espinozo, which is home to only about 3,000 residents, largely subsists from the money left by those who make the pilgrimage twice a year.
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