The Black Christ of Esquipulas: Religion & Identity in Guatemala by Douglass Sullivan-González (review)

In this absorbing study of the history of the Black Christ of Esquipulas, Guatemala, historian Douglass Sullivan-González places the image and its shrine in the context of the political and social history of the country, including issues of race and ethnicity and of class consciousness. Sullivan-González utilizes the writings of a number of the parish priests of Esquipulas as well as other archival documents of the Catholic Church in Guatemala, alongside compositions by travelers to the region and histories written about the shrine, to provide the reader with both internal and external perspectives.

El Señor Crucificado de Esquipulas (the Crucified Lord of Esquipulas), was created in 1594 by a Portuguese immigrant, Quirio Cataño. It was erected in 1595 in the parish of Esquipulas, in eastern Guatemala, where it became a symbol not only of Guatemalan faith, but also a regional symbol of faith for Central America. Though the wooden crucifix was originally light in color, over the centuries it darkened due to soot, candle wax, dust, and the human touch. What this darkening meant for those who worshipped at the site developed and changed over time. As the author describes, the name "Black Christ" was once pejorative (and in fact some of the Catholic clergy preferred not to even acknowledge its color), but by the time the twentieth century arrived, the title became "a name of adoration for many in Guatemala's Catholic community and in the greater Central American region." (157).

Sullivan-González takes a chronological approach to the story of the Black Christ, which is one of the strengths of the book. In several of the chapters, he describes historical events and movements that occurred at the national level, then follows up with a discussion of how the shrine either affected or was affected by the politics and social changes of the day, beginning with the colonial period under Spain and taking the reader up to the present time, when it remains the center of religious devotion for many. For instance, we learn that early on in its existence, the Black Christ was most beloved by the indigenous of the area, perhaps because of the shrine's proximity to Copán in nearby Honduras, which had been a religious and cultural center for the indigenous for centuries. In the early post-independence period, we learn that, in the face of Liberal hostility to Roman Catholicism and fears that the government intended to close down convents and perhaps destroy religious objects and sanctuaries, devout Catholics of the region had to fight for their spiritual lives. With the caudillo Rafael Carrera's overthrow of the Liberals in 1840 and the warfare that surrounded Carrera's time in power, the people of Esquipulas had to protect the wealth of their shrine, as both federal troops and rebels sought to fund their militaristic efforts by "borrowing" from the sanctuary. When Liberals returned to office at the national level in 1871, government officials were exasperated by the fact that the people of Esquipulas elected the sexton of their parish church to the office of mayor (alcalde), though the Liberals held three separate elections in the hopes the people would choose someone else. During this era, Esquipulas like much of the rest of Guatemala had a difficult time keeping priests because the vocation of priest had become a somewhat dangerous one. The sanctuary at Esquipulas had an especially difficult time since the shrine was wealthy and thus in danger of having its funds appropriated once again. With the October Revolution of 1944, we see a struggle between the Church and the governments of Juan JoséArévalo and Jacobo Arbenz, during which time, Sullivan-González informs the reader, the shrine at Esquipulas became a symbol of defiance against their presidencies. When the invasion force of Carlos Castillo Armas overthrew Arbenz in 1954...