Cover image for Folk saints of the borderlands : victims, bandits & healers
Title:
Folk saints of the borderlands : victims, bandits & healers
Format:
Book
ISBN:
9781887896511
Publication Information:
Tucson, Ariz. : Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2003.
Summary:
In Folk Saints of the Borderlands: Victims, Bandits, and Healers, Griffith introduces us to some unforgettable saints-in-the-making (or not). Meet: Juan Soldado ("John Soldier") of Tijuana, miracle worker and unofficial patron saint and protector of illegal immigrants. But was the real Juan a martyr or a murderer? Jesus Malverde, stagecoach robber and Robin Hood figure of nineteenth-century Sinaloa, Mexico, who has become the narcosanto, or saint of the drug dealers. Pancho Villa, bandit, revolutionary general, and invader of New Mexico. Since his assassination in 1923 he has gained a reputation as a spiritual helper, but women who channel his spirit are advised to beware. Even in the afterlife he's a "groper."