Folk saint

A folk saint is a deceased person that is venerated as a saint but who has not been officially canonized by the Church. Like the officially recognized saints, folk saints act as intercessors with God on behalf of their devotees but their actions, in life as well as in death, distinguish them from their canonized counterparts: their ranks are filled by folk healers, sinners and pre-Hispanic spirits. Some are as likely to grant a request to curse an enemy or protect a drug runner as to heal a family member. Folk saints are extremely popular in Latin America, where the majority have small local followings but a few enjoy enormous national or even international cults.

Devotions

One might pay a visit to a folk saint for any number of reasons, including general requests for good health and good luck, the lifting of a curse, or protection on the road, but most folk saints have specialties for which their help is particularly sought. Difunta Correa, for example, specializes in helping her followers to acquire new homes and businesses. Juan Bautista Morillo helps gamblers in Venezuela and Juan Soldado watches over border crossings between Mexico and the United States. This is not so different from the canonized saints of the Church — St. Benedict, for example, is the patron saint of agricultural workers — but it would be hard to find a canonized saint to look after narcotraffickers, as does Jesus Malverde.

Folk saints and the Church

Folk saints tend to be much more ambivalent in character than the members of the official Catholic pantheon and a great many are unlikely to ever be considered for canonization by the Church. In fact, many folk saints attract devotees precisely because they respond to requests that the official saints are unlikely to respond to. As James Griffith writes, "One needs ask for help where the help is likely to be effective." So long as followers come before them with faith and perform the proper devotions, many folk saints are as willing to place a curse on a person as to lift one. A prime example is Maximón in Guatemala.

The making of a folk saint

Much of the ambivalence that folk saints tend to exhibit may be traced back to their place in the community during life. With the exception of a few whose histories have been invented whole cloth, they come from the same communities as their followers. They suffered poverty and injustice and many died as victims of violence. In death, they continue to act in a more worldy fashion than their official counterparts.