I dedicate this retablo to Saint Patrick thanking him for being able to make hole in one, and thus win the Regional Golf Tournament. I’d injured my shoulder, and everyone had been telling I wouldn’t play again on professional level. I feel so happy to come back with such a great victory.

Francisco Sotomayor / Mexico City

I discovered my wife taking down her face and saw who she really is. Thank you Saint John.

Thank you, Virgin of Guadalupe, for granting us the joy of sharing our love as God wishes. Bless our way now and for ever.

She and I — Mexico, Tenochtitlan — December 2000

Florentino Mendez thanks Saint James the Apostle for helping him to successfully perform the Pass of Death at the cowboy championship. He won the first prize with his team “The Golden Cowboys”, and he dedicates this humble retablo for that.

Coahuila, 1969

The Pass of Death (El paso de la muerte) is a challenge when a cowboy riding bareback attempts to leap from his horse to the bare back of an unbridled wild horse. 

January 6, 1957, the boy Esteban fell in a Xochimilco canal. His brother Juan rushed to help him. Seeing them both in water, I entrusted them to Saint Jude Thaddeus so he would give them enough strength to get out alive from this danger. They were saved, and I promised to bring this retablo for the received favor.

Señora Juana — San Pedro, Xochimilco, Mexico

I thank the Virgin of San Juan for the miracle of having a good harvest and that I was able to buy donkeys to carry my goods to the market. I dedicate this retablo in gratitude.

Juvencio Mendez P. — Chiconcuac, Mexico, 1937

What a joy to come to play with my loyal friend. Thanks.

Fidel Quiroz ate green cherimoyas and got a diarrhea. No remedy would help him, and he implored the Holy Child of Atocha. Fidel got better, could play with his team and even won the championship. He thanks for that.

Puebla, 1945

I thank Saint Quiteria of Frexeiras for liberating me from temptations of gambling and drinking.

Germano Oliveira — Viçosa, AL — 04/04/07

I, Anastacio Rodriguez C., thank the Virgin of Guadalupe for helping me to achieve the dream of my life to go to the Carnival in Rio de Janeiro to look how the juicy Brazilian girls dance samba. I had been saving money for ten years, and it was worth it. I went as an organ-grinder to the south of the continent.

Mexico
March 4, 2000

It happened to señor Victorino Mejia, an ordinary man from San Martin Texmelucan, Puebla, who went to the celebration, that he drank a lot and got drunk. On his way back he laid to sleep under a tree. Some vultures came and started flying over him. He entrusted himself to the Holy Virgin of San Juan, and she scared the vultures away. Victorino dedicates the present retablo in gratitude and promises to never drink again.

1947

Señor Pedro and his son Antonio thank the Virgin of Guadalupe because they got a lot of pulque for their agaves. They bring this retablo for the received favor.

October 11, 1985

I was catching some shrimps, when suddenly an alligator appeared. I was frightened, because I only had a knife. I prayed the Virgin of Sorrows, and she showed her mercy. She helped me, because all of a sudden a good man with a pistol came and saved me.

Miguel Limantor Rocha
Yucatan — July 10, 1954