Narratives of Saintly Crisis Intervention in Sonora, Mexico

Over the course of a multi-year project of documenting the religious arts of Sonora, Mexico, my colleague, Francisco Manzo Taylor, and I have encountered two major clusters of legends, each with Old World antecedents. One such cluster, to be dealt with elsewhere, concerns the ways in which specific images chose “their” villages. Another, the subject of this paper, deals with the ways in which individual saints intervened to save their villages from attack.

The pattern is simple: A group of hostile, unbelieving outsiders was attacking or about to attack the village, when, either by direct action or by the manufacture of an illusion, the saint discouraged them. These are the basic themes of the narratives:

Saint Takes Action to Foil Attacker (Caborca 1857; Nácori Chico, late 19th century)

In Caborca, in April 1857, a group of American filibusteros commanded by Henry Alexander Crabb were besieging the mission church of Nuestra Señora de la Purísima Concepción (Our Lady of the Immaculate Conception) (fig. 1) where the Caborcans had taken refuge. (The church is almost always the sturdiest and largest building in any Sonoran village, and has traditionally been used as a refuge in times of attack.) At one point in the battle, Crabb’s men tried to blow in one of the church doors with a barrel of gunpowder. According to a legend known to both Mexican and O’odham families, a Lady in Blue appeared and put out the fuse. Few doubt that this was the Virgin herself, who is usually shown dressed in blue, protecting her community (Forbes 1952; Redondo 1993: 258–259).

Figure 1.

The mission church of La Purísima Concepción, Caborca. The statue of La Purísima Concepción is at the top tier of the facade. The door the filibusters tried to blow in is in the shadows to the left. October 1989.

In Nácori Chico, in the Sierra far to the south and east of Caborca, in January 1886, the troops of the United States Army expedition against the Apaches under Captain Crawford were returning home and passed through the village. Some of the Apache scouts who accompanied the regular soldiers visited the church, which is dedicated to Saint Rose of Lima. They commented that the statue of Santa Rosa was the long-haired white woman who had kept them from attacking the village on a previous occasion, by flying through the air and throwing something like ashes in their eyes. Some of the women of the village were in the church during the Apache visit and heard the older scouts discussing this. The story was also confirmed later by Geronimo on a visit to Bacerac before his surrender and deportation from the border country (Fuentes Yañez 1991).

There was indeed an aborted Apache attack on Nácori Chico, and Geronimo did take part in it. In July 1883, an estimated 150 warriors laid in wait for the local farmers to go to their fields. They were spotted by an early riser, and a skirmish ensued, with the Mexican soldiers bearing the worst of it. Then “four brave men” from the village charged the Apaches. The latter, thinking these were reinforcements, retired (Sweeney 2010: 328).

Saint Produces Illusion of Defending Army (Oquitoa, ca. 1869; Bacoachi, around 1870; Cuquiárachi, late 19th century; Pueblo de Álamos, late 19th century; Huepac, late 19th century; Ures, 1922; Huachinera, ca. 1922)

Figure 2.

The mission church of San Antonio de Oquitoa on its hill in the middle of the cemetery. This church is basically unchanged since the 18th century. June 1999.

Around 1869, a mixed group of Papagos, Seris, and Yaquis were attacking the village of Oquitoa, in the Altar Valley. The villagers had sought refuge in the mission church of San Antonio (fig. 2). They were almost out of ammunition, and afraid that the end...