— You know Silvia, this is Zalo’s doggy, it appeared on the news.

This retablo is going to be dedicated to those two neighbors who were spending their evening smoking near the grocery store and saw my dog Rocky who had been lost for seven days when I got my seven toes amputated as an effect of diabetes. I thank CHV (Chilean Television) for recording the exact moment of the epiphany. Thanks God!

Zalo Reyes, October 2010
Conchali, Santiago, Chile

Once I helped my friend to carry his paintings. I broke my heel on the stairs and twisted my leg. I crashed down. I checked the paintings, they were safe, but my middle finger was bent somehow not right. I put him in his place. The I wrapped it in cabbage leaves for a month.

I thank my Guardian Angel because my finger became normal without any doctor’s help.

I implored the Virgin of Guadalupe so that my husband Pepe wouldn’t lose his fingers when he cut himself with the knife while working in the butcher shop. I give thanks because he is alright and didn’t lose his fingers.

Señora Azucena Ortiz, December 12, 1999

Antonio and Angelica were fucking in the river when a crocodile attacked them. They implored Saint Nicholas of Bari whom they thank, with this retablo, for saving their lives, although Antonio lost a big toe.

I was working on delivering the gas tanks when I saw a very beautiful girl passing by. I couldn’t resist but flirt with her. I was going flirty and a gas tank slipped from my hands and fell on my foot. I thank Saint John Bosco for not fracturing my foot. I only got a bruise on my big toe. I promise to be more serious while working,

Pánfilo Gómez \ Puebla, Mexico

Julita Velasquez bought a sewing machine, but being unexperienced, she pierced her finger with the needle, and it got infected. She thanks Saint Teresa of Jesus for helping her to heal.

Virgin of Guadalupe, we thank you for not letting me to lose my fingers when I slipped while grinding meat. I ask you to bless this butcher shop and don Joaquin who is very kind to me.

Eduardo Batista
Tacubaya, Mexico City
February 10, 1993

With this drawing your slave Juan Luis Rubert wants to thank you, Saint Francis, for the miracle. My dog Sandy bit the doña Mariela Luisiana del Corral’s big toe. I cared about the wounded woman with all my devotion, in your constant presence, Saint Francis. At that moment her husband arrived and witnessed this scene. He got furious and killed the dog but left Mariela Luisiana del Corral to me for ever.

Cuernavaca, Mexico
December 2013

Señor Nicolas gives thanks to the Virgin of Guadalupe for not losing the fingers on his left arm when he cut himself working in his butcher-shop. In gratitude he brings this retablo.

January 11, 1990

A crab grabbed the girl Rosita Mendoza’s little toe and she almost lost it. She gives thanks with this retablo to the Lord of Chalma for her recovery.

Artemia Santoyo dropped her wedding ring into a toilet bowl in public restroom. She thanks the Virgin of the Solitude because she managed to get it back, although she had to put her hand into poop and she hurt her finger.