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Eva Perón incarnated one of the most fraught and important mythical icons of Latin American political history during the past century. As such, she surpassed even the prestige of her husband, Juan Perón, then president of Argentina (1946– 1955). Here I neither describe Evita’s personality (already suf¤ciently treated in the political literature) nor analyze her role in the relations between perónismo and the Roman Catholic Church; rather, I consider her persona in relation to religious factors, stressing her embodiment of lay sainthood. Converted into “Evita,” she played a role in the society the importance of which today is beyond dispute. She went well beyond the claims of both her apologists and detractors. Always controversial, she was at once passionate, implacable , valiant, and foulmouthed; both wildly hated and wildly loved (Luna 2000:130). Paradoxically, she fostered and provoked tremendous resentment at the same time she aroused unconditional, fanatical support. Although such extremes have occurred in other cases that one might also classify as political canonizations , the process by which Evita rose to this status was dazzlingly rapid. She was a young woman of 27 when her husband rose to political power in Argentina (Gallardo 1995:222). When she was 33 years old—an age deemed signi¤cant by many, as it is said to have been Christ’s age at his death—she became frail and was struck down by cancer of the uterus. She died on July 26, 1952. Half a century after this tragic moment, Evita Perón has become again a cyclonic force internationally as well as in Argentina. Stage and ¤lm productions (in which she is portrayed by the enormously popular North American ¤lm and stage star Madonna) reprise Evita’s life, including her fading success; these performances ratify renewed interest in her importance. Albeit a de-ideologized and postmodern return, the revival also captures her mythical nature. Novelistic treatment—Santa Evita, by Tomás Eloy Martínez (on Argentina’s bestseller lists), and Eva Perón: A Biography (Evita: Eva Peron a Madona Dos Sem-Camisa), 4 Evita A Case of Political Canonization Roberto Bosca (Translated by June Macklin) by Alicia Dujovne Ortiz, both followed The Passion, According to Eva, by Abel Pose—has helped to confer beati¤c meaning on her person. One sees a recentering of interest on this singular and fascinating Argentine myth of which so much has been written and spoken: Evita has not died; Evita lives.1 The ¤gure of Evita is well known; her name is mentioned with those of the great political women of the century, both nationally and internationally. She, along with her husband, was very charismatic, which permitted her to enter a kind of “mystical communion” with those she protected politically, the wretched and the poor (literally, the “shirtless,” or los descamisados). Without doubt, there existed between her and her public a solidarity that was so strong one might call it physical (Folliet 1963:78). THE INTERCESSION As a way of sacralizing his political strategy, Juan Perón compared himself with the ¤gure of the Eternal Father, one who blesses all others equally. And in her relation to her husband, one can see the multiplicity of functions Evita ful¤lled in his regime. Multivocalic in signi¤cance, the symbolic Evita’s principal function was that of mediation between her husband, the leader, and the masses: she took the typically feminine and maternal role of protecting her “children” from the harshness of the father and of obtaining bene¤ts for them. Often, this same function has been assumed by the ¤gure of a queen on behalf of her subjects. Further, according to theological teachings of the Catholic Church, the Virgin Mary, a maternal ¤gure with whom Evita has been identi¤ed, is the universal intercessor for all of the favors of salvation for the entire human race. Historians Carlos Floria and César García Belsunce (1992:403) point out that Eva Perón occupied a singular role, albeit insuf¤ciently studied, in the political and social processes of Peronist Argentina. A relatively recent investigation calls attention to her representation of the “myth of the Mother” during the epoch in which she shared power with her husband. She acted as an intercessor for many men, but especially for women, and broke the rigidities of party and of¤cial bureaucracy . According to a daring, suggestive psychosocial thesis, her role implied a deliberate, or perhaps unconscious, copy of the characteristics attributed to the Virgin Mary...

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