My children are pretty good swimmers, and sometimes they go swimming far from the shore. One time they found themselves surrounded by octopuses. They grabbed them with its tentacles and pulled them. The children got frightened, but since I always entrust them to the Virgin of San Juan, she protected them. Instead of pulling my kids to the sea, the octopuses pulled them towards the shore like dolphins. I give thanks for the miracle.

The milkman Vicente Gomes thanks Saint Pancras with this retablo for the big favor he asked for—to be able to overcome his addiction to a client who always paid him with sex.

With the promise “to be together till death do us apart” the boy Marquitos and his father Jose Antonio Villaseñor took off from Mexico with the illusion of prosperity. In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, together with 70 others people without documents, they got in the trailer of a truck going to Houston, Texas. After few hours of terrible agony, they were found hugging each other but with no life in them like 11 others Mexicans and 5 more Latin Americans. They all died asphyxiated and dehydrated. They were left without mercy by the mean smugglers in the town of Victoria, south of Houston. Morning of May 14, 2003, when I heard these painful news, I entrusted their souls to the Holy Virgin of the Solitude and the Lord of Chalma. I also ask to protect those who escaped the death.

Alfredo Vilchis Roque, Mexico City, 2003

There was a very pretty girl in our town that I liked very much. One night I embrace myself to give her a serenade without any idea that she had a very aggressive and grumpy father. I thank Saint Jude Thaddeus with this humble retablo because the mariachi and I could escape before he started to shoot at us with a shotgun he pulled out.

Epigmenio Reyes \ Zacatecas, Mexico

Señora Antonia Maldonado suffered from faints. It happened that during one of this she seemed to see the devils abducting her daughter. She prayed the Virgin with all her heart, and the Virgin made the miracle of stopping these visions and curing her of this illness.

Mexico City, 1942

Nicolas Romero lost his hand and felt very depressed. He thanks Saint Anthony with the retablo for he found a girlfriend with a fetish and now they enjoy very strong love pleasures.

I came from Tepeaca, Puebla, to the United States full of dreams and hopes for a better life for me and my family. I’m infinitely grateful to the Virgin of Guadalupe because I found a good job as a dishwasher in a famous restaurant in New York via a fellow countryman. May you be blessed.

Severiano Pérez \ New York, USA

I have no idea how corn devils came to my kitchen. They began to cause mischief, they broke plates and pans, spilled the oil and even overflowed the fire of the stove putting us in a danger. We prayed to San Pascual Baylon for help, and the saint sent us a beautiful black cat. As the devils are afraid of cats, they ran away when they saw it. Now the cat lives in the kitchen, and the devils won’t approach it anymore.

I saw the dogs attacking a lady. I wanted to run and defend her but then I saw that it was the Death himself. I thank the Virgin for protecting me so that the skeleton didn’t take me.

May 2, 1953

My fiancé Filemon and I tried to get married for many years but it was always that something unexpected happens and we have to cancel the wedding. I was losing any hope to get married. Then I decided to pray the Virgin of Zapopan every night, and she worked a miracle. This time everything was perfect, and we played the wedding. Everyone was happy to see us finally married. And I know that after so many stumbles we are going to be very happy.

When my son was sleeping he suddenly began to fly and flew out of the window.

(Can’t understand afterwards, but suppose that the neighbor with the pig caught the boy)

I dedicate this retablo to the Virgin of Los Remedios because thanks to her blessed intervention the lead majorette of our neighborhood group got sick with stomach pain and diarrhea, so now it’s me who is going to carry the baton at the Saint Anselm Day parade.

I was a horrible cook, and my mother used to say that nobody would ever marry me. But thanks to Saint Paschal I found a husband who loves cooking and do it very well. Cooking is his passion, and he prepares the most delicious dishes for me and our children. I thank Saint Paschal, the patron of the cooks.