When my husband was alive he loved playing cards. Starting the Day of the Dead, he began to come back home with three other ghosts. They played cards and drunk beer. I was scared of having dead men in the house. Thanks to my prayers to the Virgin of San Juan and three requiem masses they have rested in peace.

A bull started chasing Ramon Mendoza. Running away, Ramon climbed up a tree, but the bull hit the tree so hard the whole tree shook. Ramon thanks the Virgin of San Juan for the tree was an apple-tree so he could eat apples all that time while the bull was waiting for him down. The bull stayed all day, and only when the dark came some workers helped Ramon. He thanks for that because his legs and arms got numb and he couldn’t stay any longer at the tree.

August 15, 1972

A very heavy box fell on Aniceto Fernandez, a storekeeper. His back was aching, and no remedy helped him. He prayed to the Virgin of San Juan. The pain went away pretty soon, and he thanks the Virgin.

Puebla, 1943

My daughter Sofia was putting logs in the fire, stumbled and accidentally put her apron on fire. I thank the Virgin of San Juan for my daughter didn’t get hurt and only burned her clothes.

One dark night, I was coming back from the San Martin fair with my donkeys. Suddenly the sly was lightened with many lightnings. With that light I could see that I was near a cliff and almost fell off. I thank the Virgin of San Juan for lighting up my way.

German Quiroga dedicates this retablo to the Virgin of San Juan thanking her for always protecting and supporting him when he enters the arena facing the angry bulls and risking his life. He thanks because it always ends well for him.

Aguascalientes, Mexico

Teresita Robledo, a little girl, thanks the Virgin of San Juan with this retablo for the firefighters saved her three kittens from the fire.

My kitchen was filled with so gigantic rats that even my cat was afraid of them. I thank the Virgin of San Juan for we managed to get rid of them before they bit us or eat our stock of food.

Our town was always a quiet and peaceful place. But suddenly a true devil nest with tempting she-devils was opened. The she-devils lured our husbands in their damned den and got all their money from them. We discussed this with the priest, and one morning, when the place was closed, sprinkled it with holy water. Then we put crosses on the door, and the priest performed an exorcism. Those doors to hell never opened again, and we got our husbands back. We thank for that.

The flower pots from the terrace were filled with black widow spiders. I was afraid they might bite my children. I thank the Virgin of San Juan for my neighbor and I managed to kill all the spiders before that.

I was taking my children to the school. We decided to use a short-way—through the Estrella rancho. Suddenly a giant bull started chasing us. My children jumped over the fence, and I, being very fat, couldn’t do it. I prayed to the Virgin of San Juan and by pure miracle I felt light as a feather. I jumped on the fence at ease although it was painful to fell over the fence because all my weight came back to me right away. Nevertheless, I was saved from the bull, and I’m thanking the Virgin.

I thank the Virgin of San Juan because my husband who is an inventor finally made something useful—a domestic robot which does a lot of work and is very nice.

Rufino Orozco from Ciudad Guzman, Jalisco, offers this retablo to the Virgin of San Juan for the miraculous save when he was almost killed goring dangerously and deadly by a bull when he fancied himself as a torrero.

October 15, 1940