The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó: America's Miraculous Church by Brett Hendrickson (review)

In this book, Brett Hendrickson narrates the complex historical narrative of the Santuario de Chimayó. He examines its importance and significance for Native Americans in the pre-Hispanic world; for Nuevomexicanos during the Mexican Period; for Anglo pilgrims in the mid-twentieth century; and for pilgrims that journey there today.

In 1810, Don Bernardo Abeyta, a resident of Chimayó, was drawn to a light shining near the sacred ground of the Tewa Pueblo people, only to discover an open hole (or pocito) in which he found a crucifix that he took to the local priest in Santa Cruz. There it was placed on an altar. The following day the crucifix was found in the same place where Don Abeyta first discovered it. He took it again to the church only to have it return to its original location. At that moment, Don Abeyta understood the divine will: a church must be constructed on the land on which the crucifix was first discovered, and ultimately a church was built there in 1816 (39).

Hendrickson's analysis examines the theme of "religious ownership" over this sacred land, which is now a pilgrimage site. The question he poses is what is the "spiritual sense" of this place for members of the church and individuals who visit this site annually (176)? From the Roman Catholic perspective, religious ownership has focused on "new management" that has resulted in positive and negative effects (169). On the one hand, the Santuario de Chimayó became an official United States National Historic Landmark in 1970, thanks to the leadership of Father Casimiro Roca (174). On the other hand, native individuals who come to worship at this site articulate their dismay with the church's intervention in managing the chapel, as it has become a tourist attraction undermining the real meaning of the sacred land for them as believers. As one Chimayó pueblo resident observes, "[we're] losing the religious heritage of [our] ancestors" (171).

The challenge Hendrickson raises in his book engages questions relating to border territories, religion, and tourism as reflected in the santuario (163). In 1929, the Spanish Colonial Arts Society, which included artists such as Georgia O'Keefe, wanted to preserve the picturesque elements of the chapel, which reflected "a romanticized vision of Nuevomexicano village life" (122). The result was that sacred items within the church became property of the New Mexico Historical Society where today they are preserved as historic relics. Hendrickson traces the path by which members of the Abeyta family relinquished their ownership rights to the New Mexico Historical Society, which then turned over site management to the Catholic Archdiocese of Santa Fe. In the process, both artists and clergy did a real disservice to this sacred site, with its miraculous soil and holy images, by imposing a Christological orthodoxy at the expense of the native religiosity of the people residing in this territory. The locals come "with tears in their eyes, and offer their prayers of intercession and supplication for themselves and their loved ones" (120). Unlike the pueblo members in the region, the institutional church was more focused on maintaining orthodoxy, at the expense of respecting the diverse religious practices associated with the site.

Currently, Santuario de Chimayó is struggling to maintain its identity as a sacred site in the midst of tension among conflicting claims to its significance—whether it be devotion, fame, money, or tourism. A member of the Chimayó pueblo community commented that the Santuario de Chimayó today is like a "religious Disneyland" (193). There is something for everyone including "shops, restaurants, tour packages, and hotels" (194). There are even efforts by the Roman Catholic Church to turn the santuario into another Lourdes (193).

The Healing Power of the Santuario de Chimayó reclaims the unique political and religious heritage of Nuevomexicanos—rather than Hispanics, Latinos, or Mexican Americans—that has been overlooked...