Miraculous Celebrity : The Christ of Ixmiquilpan and Colonial Piety in Mexico City.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Burdette, Derek S.

Series:

Joe R. and Teresa Lozano Long series in Latin American and Latino art and culture

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Christianity and art--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Christianity and art--Catholic Church--History.

Religion and sociology--Mexico--Mexico City--History.

Mexico City (Mexico)--Religious life and customs.

Señor de Ixmiquilpan.

Jesus Christ--Apparitions and miracles--Mexico--Mexico City.

Genre:

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (266 pages)

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Austin : University of Texas Press, 2025.

Summary:

"Miraculous Celebrity centers its study on the history of the life-sized crucifix known as the Señor de Ixmiquilpan, which was one of the most important pieces of religious art in Mexico in the colonial period. However, it is also a piece that has been comparatively overlooked in favor of figures such as the Virgen de Guadalupe. The Señor is what is known as a "cornstalk" crucifix, made from a paste developed from cornstalks and created by Indigenous peoples for sculpting materials. The sculptures are extremely light and composed of a hollow wire frame covered with paste, which were originally the basis for creating lightweight sculptures of pre-Hispanic gods that could be easily carried and displayed on the battlefield. Although the Señor was first created around 1545 and kept in a small chapel where it slowly decayed in obscurity, it wasn't until several decades later that the statue "miraculously" renovated itself and was identified by religious authorities in Mexico City during a period of fervor for miraculous statuary and images that had the power to bestow its powers upon devoted (and paying) parishioners. It was removed from its chapel over the protests of locals and taken to Mexico City. From there, it was documented in printed materials and paintings and carried through streets in moments of crisis such as the typhus epidemics that swept through the city and the aftermath of a major earthquake in 1845. Burdette's manuscript traces the long history of this statue's celebrity and uses it as a way of tracing New Spain's religious and social history from the centuries of colonial life to the independence movement"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents:

A lightweight crucifix in the age of evangelization

The dawn of miraculous imagery and the making of the Cristo Renovado

The concentration and circulation of divine presence

Pestilence and politics in baroque Mexico City

Devotional entrepreneurship and the making of a modern chapel.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Outgrowth of the author's thesis (doctoral)--Tulane University, 2012, under the title: Miraculous crucifixes and colonial Mexican society.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1-4773-3232-4

1-4773-3233-2

OCLC:

1531314547