Throughout the month of October, the Catholic Church in Peru comes together to celebrate a tradition with viceregal roots, which has deeply penetrated the Peruvian soul and culture. Peruvian Catholics celebrate the ‘Christ of Pachacamilla’, the Lord of Miracles.
This popular piety revolves around an image of Golgotha, painted on an adobe wall by a 17th century slave. Devotion to the Lord of Miracles summons a penitent parishioner, who sees in the Lord the balm that heals wounds, that forgives their sins.
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Although all of October is dedicated to the Lord of Miracles, certainly, the Peruvian Church commemorates him in a special way on the 28th, the central date of the festivities and the main procession (at least two are carried out in October and a closing one on November 1).
There are millions of faithful who participate in the processions and visit the Sanctuary, while Peruvian communities around the world do the same, maintaining the tradition.
brown Christ
In the 17th century, in Peru, a group of slaves brought from Angola (Africa) formed a religious brotherhood in a place called Pachacamilla, on the outskirts of viceregal Lima. There the black men and women built a very simple building, made of mud and cane, where they met whenever work allowed them. In the improvised shed, the slaves could rest, sing, dance and worship God according to their customs.
Around 1651, to beautify the place, one of the Angolan slaves – whose name is uncertain – painted an image of Jesus crucified on one of the walls of the enclosure, with the idea that it was the Lord who presided over the meetings of the brotherhood. Without knowing it, that man would end up incorporating African culture into the Christian substratum of the Peruvian nation forever, not in a forced way, but according to the freedom that the children of God enjoy. Since then, a bond of friendship, brotherhood and authentic miscegenation unites all the bloods of Peru around Christ. Jesus’ skin in the image is black, and that is why he is affectionately called the ‘brown Christ’ of Peru.
The sign of tragedy
On November 13, 1655, a large earthquake affected the entire city of Lima. Many people died and many of the houses and buildings were reduced to rubble, including the adobe and quincha shack that served as a meeting place for Pachacamilla’s slaves.
However, to the surprise of the survivors, the wall where the image of Christ was painted remained standing, without major damage. The days passed and the wall remained there, without anyone caring too much. Those who passed by looked at the image and crossed themselves, while those who passed by stopped to pray. Perhaps those few were the ones who opened their eyes to the miracle that occurred and began to gather to pray in front of the wall.
When visitors increased and meetings began to be held there on Friday nights – not always characterized by recollection – the ecclesiastical authorities began to view what was happening with concern. The parish priest of San Sebastián, in whose jurisdiction the Pachacamilla strip was, interposed his offices to support the faithful, but the occasional tumults bothered the archbishop of the city and it was decided to put an end to the problem. The image was ordered to be deleted.
Even the viceroy, who had visited the place, seems not to have strongly agreed with the episcopal decision, but he complied with it. A contingent of men was sent to erase the fresco. They couldn’t. There were three house painters who wanted to put paint on top of the image in three different attempts. One almost fell from the ladder, the second was terrified, the third began to scream that the image had spoken to him.
After what happened, the fresco with the image of the crucified Christ was left alone, and the pilgrims could continue visiting the place.
The first devotee and the first of the miracles
At the same time, Don Antonio de León, a Spanish layman regular at the parish of San Sebastián, would find the image and begin to venerate it. De León was very sick, suffered terrible headaches, had lost weight and was very weak. He began to visit her every day to ask the Lord of Pachacamilla to restore his health. Shortly after, Antonio began to feel better to the point where he thought he was completely cured. He soon stopped noticing the symptoms that had made him suffer for so long. The Lord had healed him and the facts showed it.
Antonio de León would become the first great devotee and propagator of the veneration of Cristo Moreno. With the approval of the viceroy and the archbishop, De León built a small hermitage on the site and converted it into a prayer area. The first mass was celebrated there in 1671 with the presence of the parish priest of San Sebastián, putting an end to the incident in which the civil and ecclesiastical authorities attempted to erase the sacred image for not conforming to the traditional or official cult.
The origin of the procession
In 1687, a second earthquake – which occurred on October 20 – once again left the city in ruins, with thousands of dead and injured. Miraculously, the wall once again remained standing, while the rest of the hermitage fell to the ground. Spontaneously, there was a reaction of faith and piety among the people: a group of faithful ordered a replica of the painting to be made to be taken out in procession through the streets of the capital. The devotees wanted to see Christ walk the streets of Lima and give them his blessing in the midst of pain.
That was the first procession of the Lord of Miracles, the idea of a Biscayan named Sebastián de Antuñano.
Third catastrophe
On October 28, 1746, perhaps the worst earthquake that ever shook the capital of Peru occurred. This, in addition, was accompanied by a tidal wave. Lima and Callao were once again in rubble and the devotees of the Lord decided to take the sacred image through the streets that same day. The earth stopped shaking – the aftershocks of the earthquake stopped – and an atmosphere of contemplation and hope filled Lima from inch to inch. He had been the ‘Lord of Wonders’, ‘The Lord of Tremors’, ‘The Moreno Christ’.
Meanwhile, by order of the viceroy, the wall with the original fresco was moved to the place where it remains to this day: the Church of the Monastery of the Barefoot Carmelite Nazarene Mothers, who guard the Moreno Christ.
The people of Lima – grateful and penitent – have accompanied the procession of the Lord of Miracles every year since October 28, 1746. In more than 300 years, the procession has only been canceled three times, all for exceptional reasons.
Reconciliation and penance: a Lent in October
Devotion to the Lord of Miracles has articulated and gathered around faith, since the 17th century, all social classes, “castes” and “colors” of Lima and Peru in general. As proof of this, the festivities that are celebrated on October 18 or 28, as well as any of the traditional celebrations of the month, integrate the city into a common ritual; They alter their dizzying pace of life and allow countless traditions to flourish.
Lima becomes penitent and collected, to the point that many refer to Lima’s October as “Peruvian Lent.” Unfortunately, due to the Covid 19 pandemic, the procession could not be carried out in 2020 and 2021 due to the potential risks given its mass nature.
In 2022, the Archbishopric of Lima ordered that the procession and central festivities resume. This 2023 all traditional activities have been resumed, including the entry of the Procession to the Plaza Mayor of Lima.
Pope Saint John Paul II in memory
In 2001, on the occasion of the celebration of the 350 years of the venerated image of the Lord of Miracles, Pope Saint John Paul II sent a personal letter to the then Cardinal Juan Luis Cipriani, Archbishop of Lima, in which he stated:
“I pray to the Lord of Miracles to protect the people of Lima, to convert those who carry his image on their shoulders into bearers of Christ also with their faith and their testimony of impeccable life, to transform those who wear the Nazarene tunic (of purple color) and pour out his grace on all who invoke him with devotion.”
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If you want to know more about the Lord of Miracles, we recommend this article from the Catholic Encyclopedia: https://ec.aciprensa.com/wiki/Se%C3%B1or_de_los_Milagros.
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