History of the Apparition of Santo Christo de Chalma

Joaquín Sardo.
Relación histórica y moral de la portentosa imagen de N. Sr. Jesucristo crucificado aparecida en una de las cuevas de S. Miguel de Chalma.
[Mexico] Casa de Arizpe, 1810. (BRB0354)

After the shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Chalma is the second most visited pilgrimage site in Mexico.  Before the Spanish conquest, the local population had worshipped a life-size black statue located in a cave on the site.  Less than a decade after the 1531 appearance of the Virgin of Guadalupe, Augustinian friars were in the area attempting to convert the natives. The miraculous replacement of the indigenous statue with a life-size crucified Black Christ and the simultaneous destruction of the pre-Hispanic statue, illustrated in this engraving of the apparition, contributed greatly to the missionary efforts in the region and the veneration of the site.

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A Variety of Apparitions and Venerations
History of the Apparition of Santo Christo de Chalma