I was going to be a trapeze artist, following our family tradition. But I wasn’t very good. Then one day I found out that I charm the fierce animals with my voice sound. So I began to work with big cats. They act as little kittens when I talk with them with sweetness, and they do everything I say. My act with the fierce animals has had a great success, and my animals love me. I thank the Virgin of Guadalupe for this gift.

Almost all women in our family have beards. That’s why my sister and I thought that we were going to be circus phenomenons until we retire and then we would marry weird ugly men like our aunts did. Our circus routine had a big success because besides wearing beards we were very cute and funny. But we weren’t happy. One day thank to the Virgin of San Juan we found out about depilation. We got rid of our beards and married handsome men. We do not work in circus anymore.

Andres Ortega brings this retablo to Saint Thomas thanking him for becoming a lion tamer in the “Doris” circus and for his performances are going very well.

Señora Ana Maria Perez went to the circus, and an element got mad there. It grabbed her with its trunk and threw away. She thanks the Virgin of Guadalupe for surviving and recovering.

My husband played dice with a circus owner and won an elephant. They were both drunk when they came home with the elephant. I thank the Virgin of San Juan because the circus owner sobered up and wanted to take the elephant back. He offered instead three circus dogs and ten tickets to the show. My husband was happy to take it because he also got sober and was afraid of his win. And the circus dogs turned out to be very cute and perform different tricks.

With this retablo, the trapeze artist Maximino Casas give thanks to Saint Barbara for protecting him during his debut in the Chispa circus. He was very nervous and, in spite of practicing a lot, was afraid of falling down. But everything went well.

San Luis Potosi, Mexico

The tamer Teofilo Rosales thanks Saint Catherine the Martyr because she helped him to tame lions and other wild animals in the circus. They never attack him. On the contrary, he cares about them and they reciprocate.

The Internacional Circus
Matamoros, Tamaulipas, 1966

Diana Molina was performing her act on trapeze and lost the rhythm during a throw in the air. She was about to fall on the lions who were down and were very grumpy. She prayed the Virgin of Guadalupe and, in a mysterious way, a trapeze came right to her hands, and she grabbed it.

An accident during the Rodriguez sisters’s performance.

It occurred to my wife to fulfill her childhood dream of becoming a circus artist. She got on our old horse, put a feather in her hair and started doing some tricks. She got all the animals scared and even the horse felt itself humiliated. I thank the Virgin of Guadalupe for bringing my wife back to reason so she forgot about this. Now she is alright <. . .> because we are expecting our first baby (?).

April 30, 1980, a frightened lion jumped on me. In this danger, I implored the Virgin of Guadalupe. I managed to tame him and the lion didn’t do me any harm. It all ended well.

Seferino — It happened in the “Atayde” circus in Mexico

I was doing my act on the wire when I suddenly had a strange feeling of solitude up there. I started to lose my concentration and, therefore, my balance. Then I felt invisible hand put me back in balance. I was able to get to the end. I know it was the Virgin of Guadalupe who saved me, because I always entrust myself to her.

February 17, 1962