El Señor de los Milagros

El Señor de los Milagros (Lord of Miracles), the most popular religious procession in Peru. It is based on a painting of the crucified Christ done by an anonymous black slave in Lima around 1650. After the wall on which the image was painted remained intact following the earthquake of 1655, the painting was perceived to be miraculous and devotion to the "Holy Christ of Miracles" spread rapidly. A copy of the painting was first taken out in procession in October 1687, following another earthquake. By the eighteenth century it had become the most popular procession in Lima. It continues to be held in October. The original painting is on permanent display in the church of the order of Nazarenes, and the Confraternity of the Bearers of the Lord of Miracles is the largest and most important in Peru. Although the devotion has not lost its original popular character, by the late twentieth century Peruvians of all social classes have come to accept the devotion as part of their Peruvian identity.

See alsoCatholic Church: The Colonial Period .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Rubén Vargas Ugarte, Historia del Santo Cristo de los Milagros, 3d ed. (1966).

Additional Bibliography

Boone, Elizabeth Hill, and Cummins, Tom, eds. Native Traditions in the Postconquest World: A Symposium at Dumbarton Oaks, 2nd through 4th October 1992. Washington, DC: Dumbarton Oaks, 1998.

Pini, Francesco. El rostro de un pueblo: Estudios sobre el Señor de los Milagros. Lima: Universidad Católica Sedes Sapientiae, Fondo Editorial UCS, 2005.

Rostworowski de Diez Canseco, María. Pachacamac y el Señor de los Milagros: Una trayectoria milenaria; Señorios indígenas de Lima y Canta. Lima: Instituto de Estudios Peruanos, 2002.

                                      Jeffrey Klaiber