Juan Soldado : rapist, murderer, martyr, saint / Paul J. Vanderwood.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Vanderwood, Paul J.

Series:

American encounters/global interactions

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Castillo Morales, Juan, -1938--Cult.

Castillo Morales, Juan.

Castillo Morales, Juan, -1938.

Cults.

Mexico--Religious life and customs.

Mexico.

Physical Description:

xvi, 332 pages : illustrations, maps ; 25 cm.

Place of Publication:

Durham [N.C.] : Duke University Press, 2004.

Summary:

Paul J. Vanderwood offers a fascinating look at the events, beliefs, and circumstances that have motivated popular devotion to Juan Soldado, a Mexican folk saint. In his mortal incarnation, Juan Soldado was Juan Castillo Morales, a twenty-four-year-old soldier convicted of and quickly executed for the rape and murder of eight-year-old Olga Camacho in Tijuana in 1938. Immediately after Morales's death, many people began to doubt the evidence of his guilt, or at least the justice of his brutal execution. People reported seeing blood seeping from his grave and hearing his soul cry out protesting his innocence. Soon the "martyred" Morales was known as Juan Soldado, or John the Soldier. Believing that those who have died unjustly sit closest to God, people began visiting Morales's grave asking for favors. Within months of his death, the young soldier had become a popular saint. Although Juan Soldado was never canonized by the Catholic Church, thousands of people have made pilgrimages to his gravesite.

Juan Soldado is the first book to situate the story of Juan Castillo Morales within a broader exploration of how and why popular canonizations such as his take root and flourish. In addition to conducting extensive archival research, Vanderwood interviewed central actors in the events of 1938, including Olga Camacho's mother, citizens who rioted to demand Morales's release to a lynch mob, those who witnessed his execution, and some of the earliest believers in his miraculous powers. Vanderwood also spoke with many present-day visitors to the shrine at Morales's grave. He describes them, their petitions-for favors such as health, a good marriage, or safe passage into the United States-and how they reconcile their belief in the folk saint with their Catholicism. In Juan Soldado, a gripping true-crime mystery opens up into a much larger and more elusive mystery of faith and belief.

Contents:

I The Crime

1 Notions of Justice 3

2 Aftermath 51

II Circumstances

3 Tijuana 75

4 Mexico for Mexicans 104

5 Riding the Roller Coaster 137

III Belief

6 Witness to Execution 173

7 Criminals and Saints 201

8 Closer to God 249

9 John the Soldier 275.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages [293]-325) and index.

ISBN:

0822334046

0822334151

OCLC:

55131485