In his work Glowing bodies. Argentine popular saints (2024), the writer and critic María Rosa Lojo proposes a tour of the imaginary of the popular saints that analyzes the complex relations between the sacred, suffering and hope From figures revered by the people, many of them outside the official holiness of the Catholic Church, such as Gilda or the Gauchito Gil.
We are facing the reissue of a book that had been published by South American in 2007, and that now appears in the Alphaguara publishing house with a new story (about Maradona) and its updated introductory essay.
The author leads us through a mosaic of characters that represent the soul of deep Argentina, from the late belt to Diego Maradona, passing through the Gauchito Gil and singer Gilda. Throughout its pages, it reflects how they have transcended their earthly existence to become symbols of resistance, hope and faith for thousands of devotees throughout the country.
He portrays Gilda as an almost mystical figure, whose music has the power to link his followers with a collective spiritual experience.
The axis that unifies the work is the body. Not only the body in its physical sense, but in its symbolic ability to represent the struggle, pain, importance and devotion. From the beginning of the book, Lojo proposes that these bodies, generally associated with extreme suffering – mutilated, tortured, baleados – are transformed into “glowing bodies”Light bodies that challenge the laws of time and space.
The author of the novels The passion of nomads y The federal princess Recover the idea of the sanctification of the body as a direct contact with the sacred transcendent. This concept is developed in all sections of the book, with varied and deeply emotional examples. In the case of Gauchito Gil, for example, the story of his brutal execution contrasts with the poetic transformation of his body into a symbol of justice and divine protection.
Lojo highlights how his martyr image resonates in the collective imaginary, so much that today his altars proliferate on the Argentine routes, where the faithful offer not only money and symbolic objects, but his confidence that this saint of the marginalized will intercede in their daily lives.
Each chapter (story) of the book is dedicated to a personality venerated by the people, or sometimes two related to each other (such as Pancho Sierra and Mother Maria, or the priest Brochero and the Federal Montonero Montonero Santos Guayama); Lojo is not limited to narrating the facts that surround the life and death of these characters, but deepens their cultural impact.
The late strapFor example, It is presented not only as a maternal martyr, whose image loading its dead baby has inspired devotion, but also as a symbol of female resistance against desert adversities and social brutality. In this sense, his figure symbolizes both death and life, and his history becomes a testimony of eternal hope.
The researcher and writer also rescues less known figures, such as “Alita” Sivila, a young woman whose tragic death, in the hands of her rapist, generated an intense local devotion in Jujuy. Or El Maruchito, from Río Negro, a child killed by the brutal foreman of a transport caravan, where he worked as a “marucho” or assistant. Both cases are representative of innocent victims, who, due to their age or gender, are especially vulnerable to their aggressors. The undeserved injustice of their violent deaths makes them sanctifiable.
Maradona, despite his controversial actions, is revered as a hero who “has given everything” for his people.
An especially interesting aspect of the work is How Lojo links music and popular devotion. In the chapter dedicated to Gilda, explores the emotional connection that devotees feel with the singer, whose tragic death in a car accident catapulted her to the status of Santa. The writer portrays Gilda as an almost mystical figure, whose music has the power to link her followers with a collective spiritual experience. In this case, devotion does not focus only on extreme physical suffering, but on an emotional and artistic connection that transcends death.
Music, in the context of these popular saints, is presented as a universal language that crosses cultural and temporal barriers.
El Maruchito is another saint whose history is intrinsically linked to music. Lojo describes how, even after his death, his figure continues to inspire popular musicians.
The essayist also addresses, in the introduction, How these figures have been absorbed by contemporary culture, resignified through art and literature. As far as Diego Maradona does, he reflects on the phenomenon of his sanctification, which, although different from the most traditional cases, shares fundamental characteristics with them: The body as a place of devotion and miracle, suffering as a purifying element, and the public figure that transcends its immediate context to become a symbol. Maradona, despite his controversial actions, is revered as a hero who “has given everything” for his people, becoming an icon of hope for the dispossessed.
Lojo’s narrative style is characterized by a poetic prose that reflects the emotional and symbolic depth of the issues it addresses. Throughout the book, the alternate author between the academic essay, the poetic story and the philosophical reflection, creating a work that feels unified by her intimate and enveloping tone. This combination of genres allows you to articulate a multifaceted vision of the figures described, exploring both its historical impact as its resonance in the contemporary collective imaginary.
Glowing bodies Not only documented popular devotion to Argentine saints, but also offers, from literature, a deep reflection on the power of the body, music and faith in popular culture.