Description
He is celebrated as a folk saint by some in Mexico and the United States, particularly among those involved in drug trafficking. He is not recognized as a saint by the Catholic Church.
Since Malverde’s supposed death, he has earned a Robin Hood-type image, making him popular among Sinaloa’s poor highland residents. His bones were said to have been unofficially buried by local people, who threw stones onto them, creating acairn. Throwing a stone onto the bones was thus a sign of respect, and gave the person the right to make a petition to his spirit. His earliest alleged miracles involved the return of lost or stolen property. His shrine is in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa. Every year on the anniversary of his death a large party is held at Malverde’s shrine. The original shrine was built over in the 1970s, amid much controversy, and a new shrine was built on nearby land. The original site, which became a parking lot, has since been revived as an unofficial shrine, with a cairn and offerings.
The outlaw image has caused him to be adopted as the “patron saint” of the region’s illegal drug trade, and the press has thus dubbed him “the narco-saint.” However, his intercession is also sought by those with troubles of various kinds, and a number of supposed miracles have been locally attributed to him, including personal healings and blessings. Price says that “Narcotrafickers have strategically used Malverde’s image as a ‘generous bandit’ to spin their own images as Robin Hoods of sorts, merely stealing from rich drug-addicted gringos and giving some of their wealth back to their Sinaloa hometowns, in the form of schools, road improvements, community celebrations.”
Spiritual supplies featuring the visage of Jesús Malverde are available in the United States as well as in Mexico. They include candles, anointing oils, incense, sachet powders, bath crystals, soap and lithographed prints suitable for framing.
