El Santuario de Chimayo, a Roman Catholic Church located in Chimayo New Mexico, is a National Historic Landmark as well as a Holy Shrine with 300,000 visitors each year. On Good Friday as many as 30,000 worshipers make a walking pilgrimage to celebrate the Easter Season–some walk as far as Albuquerque ninety miles away. El Santuario is called the “Lourdes of America” and is said to be the most important Catholic pilgrimage center in the United States. There are no written records of the miracle that occurred and the miraculous healing powers, but only legends that have been passed down from generation to generation. This story appears to be the one most told: Around 1810 “ During Holy Week on the night of Good Friday, Don Bernardo Abeyta, who was a member in good standing of the Hermandad de Nuestro Padre Jes6s el Nazareno (Penitentes) was performing the customary penances of the Society around the hills of El Potrero. Suddenly he saw a light springing from one of the slopes of the hills near the Santa Cruz River. Don Bernardo went to the spot and noticed that the shining light was coming from the ground. He started to dig with his bare hands, and there he found a Crucifix. He left it there and called the neighbors to come and venerate the precious finding. A group of men was sent to notify the priest, Fr. Sebastian Alvarez at Santa Cruz.Upon hearing the extraordinary news, the priest and people set out for Chimayo. When they arrived at the place where the Crucifix was, Fr. Sebastian picked it up and carried it in a joyful procession back to the church. Once in the church, the Crucifix was placed in the niche of the main altar. The next morning, the Crucifix was gone, only to be found in its original location. A second procession was organized and the Crucifix was returned to Santa Cruz, but once again it disappeared, The same thing happened a third time. By then, everyone understood that El Sefior de Esquipulas wanted to remain in Chimayo, and so a small chapel was built.” After visiting the chapel people began to testify of “miraculous healings” and the number of people making the pilgrimage to the shrine grew and the present chapel was built between 1814 and 1816. Until 1929 El Santuario was privately owned then it was purchased by several people in Santa Fe and turned over to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe. The crucifix still remains on the chapel alter but the main attraction is El Posito, the “sacred sand pit” behind the main alter. People come locally and from great distances to take a small amount of the “holy dirt” from the Posito or well in the floor. Those who come believe the soil is blessed and can bring miraculous healing. Some brew the dirt like tea and drink it or either mix it with water and apply it to the diseased parts of their body. The prayer room is filled with discarded crutches, braces, canes, walkers and handmade shrines of those who have been healed. Arriving at El Santuario early morning to photograph we were the only ones there, then slowly one by one people began to drift in , some on foot , families in cars then tour buses started to arrive with more visitors lining up to go inside the chapel. I spoke with one lady who had ridden a bus from Florida to Albuquerque NM the day before then took a local bus to Chimayo –she carried a small suitcase with empty bottles to collect the “holy dirt” to take home for her as well as for family and friends. She then waited for the local bus to begin her return journey back to Florida. Her story is just one out of the 300,000 that make the pilgrimage yearly to El Santuario de Chimayo—–
Kay
