— tagged with “widowhood”

I thank my Virgin of Guadalupe with this exvoto for helping me and for giving me courage because I suddenly heard my chicken very unquiet. I came out and saw a huge and horrible beast that tried to eat them. I’m a widow and these chicken are my only livelihood, and I also sell eggs to my neighbors. Fortunately, I chased the horrible beats away.

Jasinta Salazar
The Miracle ranch, Jalisco, May 6, 1987

Señora Raquel Cervantes brings this retablo, with fervent devotion, to the Virgin of Juquila thanking her for she was able to buy a diamond ring on the inheritance left by her late husband, and she even thinks to go to Europe.

Chavelita Robledo became a widow. In order to cover the funeral spendings, she began selling hojaldras pastries at the cemetery. The things went very well, and she thanks the Virgin of Juquila with the present retablo for such good luck.

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Virgin of Juquila, I beg you let it go well for me with doña Chayo who has become a widow, and make so that she’d always got milk.

Abundio Martinez

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When my husband died, I was inconsolable. After having felt a horrible pain, then came the worries that I couldn’t support my two children only by myself. But this year the fruit trees gave a very abundant crop. The Holy Spirit enlightened me not to sell the fruits but to make jam and jelly which I could sell for a higher price than the fruits. Now I realize that the tragedies take a part of you but also make you stronger.

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Thank you, Virgin of Help, for the luck of marrying the landowner and widower and showing them that I marry him for love.

Juliana, 1974
Oaxaca, Mexico

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The widow Ana Maria Rivera brings the present retablo to Saint Anthony thanking him for, despite being 80 years old and having 13 kids, she still found her love.

San Nicolas, 1917

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My late husband was very jealous when he was alive. When don Pascual, the hardware store’s owner, started to court me after me being a widow for many years, the angry ghost of my husband Jose began to appear at night. I prayed the Virgin of Zapopan for her intervention so Jose would let me in peace. The Holy Virgin made the miracle, and the ghost didn’t come back, even despite the fact I accepted the Pascual’s courtship.

Don Luciano Herrera was a very rich man in our town. After having widowed, he began to court me. I didn’t like him because he was much older than me. But he was stubborn and even offered some lands to my parents in exchange for marrying me. I thank Saint Raymond for I managed to go live with my aunt in the capital and I’ve never seen this dirty old man anymore.

Rosita Buendia ~ Zapopan, Jalisco

I’m a single father. After my wife died I took charge of my little Mary. She had a desire that we’d dress up as her favorite fairy princess on her birthday. But I was afraid that the guest would laugh at me. I thank Saint James the Apostle because instead of laughs I received congratulations for this act of father love.

Rafael Corona ~ Villahermosa, Tabasco

I’m a widow, and I don’t have kids. But I don’t lack company because a lot of story dogs came to live with me. Together we are a big family. Very noise, slightly stinking, but still a family united by love. And that’s what’s important. I thank Saint Francis for having sent me all these dogs.

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I became a widow in a young age. I had no children and didn’t want to marry again. I got me a good company of my cats instead. On Sundays I put on a nice dress, my best shoes and a ribbon in my hair, then I take my three cats for a walk. They are my family. The old gossips of the town call me a crazy cat lady and talk behind my back. But I don’t care because my pets and I enjoy our walk and we are happy.

I married Jose a year after he became a widower when his first wife died on the day of the wedding because of indigestion after eating too much. Turned out that the ghost of the first wife was very jealous. She began to appear at nights with the angry face and scared me a lot. Then I ordered a novena for her soul, and it made the ghost to go away and rest in peace. I thank the Virgin of Zapopan because now I’m happy with Jose.