Fifteenth International Conference on Religion & Spirituality in Society

Abstract

This paper explores the emergence of popularity of Saint Jesús Malverde’s devotion in the context of Mexico’s encounter with modernity, as well as the consequence of the Mexico-United States War (1846-1848) and the extreme interference of the US in Mexico affairs that defined the Porfiriato (1876-1910), and its extreme land reforms, and the indigenous class decay in the state of Sinaloa. The Porfiriato ended with the Mexican Revolution in 1910, just months after the death of Jesús Malverde. This paper studies the creation of the current canonical image of Jesús Malverde by merging the faces of two main movie stars and singers from the Mexican Cinema’s Golden Era, Pedro Infante, and Jorge Negrete, within the discourses of an “ideal masculinity” proposed as part of a Mexican nationalist project. In addition, it analyses Malverde’s trajectory as a narco-saint within the context of the anti-hero processes of redemption defining the Catholic Church in relationship to the Mexican State.