Santos

Santos

Four hundred years ago, the Spanish came to the New World and brought significant changes. One of the most lasting changes was their faith, Catholicism. Santos (painted and carved images of saints) have lived in the homes of Hispanic New Mexican as well as Native American families for hundreds of years. The missionary priests needed "visual aids" to help explain the stories of the saints and the Passion of Christ to the native peoples and used printed images from Spain. At first, some statues were brought from Spain and Mexico but the responsibility for making santos was handled by Franciscan friars and then by local craftspersons and artists, many of whom set up schools or escuelitas. Gradually santeros, the artists who made the images of saints, began to carve and paint the popular saints to supply New Mexican churches, homes, and moradas (village worship space for the Penitente Brotherhood). The santos were made either two dimensionally (retablos), or three dimensionally (bultos).

The stories and images of the saints differed from those seen in Europe. We attribute that to limited contact with the source material and word of mouth spreading the stories, gradually changing some of the facts along the way. The isolation of the New Mexico villages made visits by priests rare occurances and necessitated the use of lay clergy to keep the faith alive. Village processions and celebrations centered around the treasured santos that were on display in the church and morada.