I was enjoying a vacation at the beaches of India when after an earthquake came the tsunami. I prayed the Virgin of Guadalupe so she would save me from death. Although, I was swept and suffered some injuries, miraculously I came out alive. I offer this in memory.

Pedro Saldivar. Mexico City, 2004

Saint Charbel, thank you. There were five of us hiding in a trench. When we saw the Dorados of Villa coming we went out screaming that we gave up. Right away I got a bullet in my chest and fell down. I survived by a miracle. I was lucky that the bullet came through and didn’t touch my heart. My four comrades, however, were killed. I thank Saint Charbel with this retablo for getting alive.

Elpidio Barrios
Torreon

St. Jude Thaddeus, thank you for sending me happiness. One day I was walking to Cuernavaca and I wanted some cold beer. I went to a bar, and there I met Ernesto. This young man dragged my attention right away. Also I liked his mole. In short we started talking, and now we’re a couple. I won a lottery with this guy. We are madly in love.

Edgar Alvarado
Temixco, Morelos, 1965

Saint Jude Thaddeus, thank you for the happiness you gave me. I was looking for a partner so long and then I met Enrique, a boy from the capital. We began to date. I found the real love with him. Before him I had been treated very badly and bullied. My father had even kicked me out of house at midnight with a thunderstorm outside.

Oscar Muñoz
Acapulco, Guerrero, 1962

Holy Child of Atocha, thank you for your favors. My lover and I were going to lie in bed when suddenly somebody knocked on the door. I told my lover to hide himself and went to open. It was my partner who came back. Turned out that the cabaret where he had been working as a bartender was shut down. He told me he had drunk a little bit with his pals. He was drunk and he didn’t notice my lover Adrian. The moment my partner wasn’t looking, Adrian managed to escape.

Claudio Venegas
Mexico City, 1962

Jesus Christ, thank you for your favors. I thank because my grandson returned alive from the war in Vietnam. I also thank for my grandson came to visit me in Mexico. It might be a last time I see him because I feel very tired and my health is bad.

Margarita Galindo
Mexico City, 1976

Thank you, Holy Child of Atocha, for your favors. I was talking with Mariana about our decision to live together. We were staying near the cabaret where she worked and where we had met each other. Suddenly I felt acute pain in my chest. It was the Mariana’s ex-pimp who shot me. But thanks to the saint the bullet didn’t hit the heart but split my collarbone. After that I asked at my work to transfer me to Monterrey where we started our new life.

Lorenzo Lozada
Monterrey, Nuevo Leon, 1962

Holy Shroud, thank you for your help. I was leaving my house to go to put some money in the bank. That moment, a man came out a car and open the trunk. He showed me a drawn plan and asked me about one street. He saw that I was carrying documents in my hand. Suddenly, another man grabbed me, gagged me and pushed into the car. They were beating me on the way and took all my money. I thank for I wasn’t killed.

Sofia Moreno
Mexico City, 1966

Saint Jude Thaddeus, thank you for all your favors. It seemed I was loosing my mind when I got in the river completely naked. One and half year before, my boyfriend Pepe had drowned at the very same place. A lady saw me there and reported to the police. They came looking for me, and then I spent three days at a police station until my mother and my sister came after me. They payed the fine, and then I was taken from there with the psychologist. Few months later, I was doing better mentally, since I had been at the edge of going crazy.

Angela Moreno
Cuernavaca, Morelos, 1965

Virgin of San Juan, thank you for your favors. I thank because my adorable Nuco has returned to me. He dumped cause of a misunderstanding but one year later he has come back. We went for a iconic with our friends to celebrate it, and afterwards we visited the temple to exchange vows to love each other till death do us apart.

Dario Magana
Mexico City, 1971

I thank you, Virgin of San Juan, for your favors. I had vacations and decided to visit my cousins in Michoacan. On my road to them I saw a completely naked woman sitting on a rock. When I got closer, she changed her color. It was, no more no less, the devil himself. I entrusted myself to the Holy Virgin, grabbed my cross and the devil disappeared in the air right away.

Maximino Arroyo, 1975

Virgin of Guadalupe, thank you for your favors. I got involved with a real psychopath without knowing it. Suddenly he became mad with no reason. He was speaking incoherently and asking me whom I’d been cheating on him with. I told my father about Javier but he answered me that it was my fault that I’d got mixed up with a man like him. In the end, Javier stripped me down, tied my arms around a tree and flogged me. My father was coming by, he saw Javier beating me and shoot him in the leg. I was saved.

Maria Zoto
Tlaxcala, 1969

Virgin of Juquila, thank you for your favors. I miraculously survived after being gored by the bull. I was going cool as a cucumber when the bull attacked me from behind. When he hit me, I went unconscious. Also, I’d like to thank a mister who brought me to his house and tamponed my wounds to stop bleeding. He went for a doctor, and I quickly recovered.

Roque Garcia, 1963