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Encyclical Letter
Deus Caritas Est of
Pope Benedict XVI

Carta Enciclica
Spanish Version

Celebration and Procession del Señor de los Milagros
“Our Lord of Miracles”
Sunday Oct. 22 after the 1:00pm Mass

Click here to view photos from this special event.

Brief Historical Background

The popular version of the story about the origins of El Señor de los Milagros is widely circulated in Peru. To understand the cult to Señor de los Milagros one must understand its most fundamental structuring logic: ‘the profound fear of humans, helpless before unforeseeable seismic movements’. In 1655, an earthquake hit Lima causing many deaths and serious physical damages, yet the mural painting of the Cristo de Pachacamilla made by descendants of African slaves remained intact. Later earthquakes in 1687 and 1746 similarly destroyed large parts of the city while the mural painting again remained unaffected by the disasters. In 1671, the Catholic Church ordered the mural to be erased, but when the powers of the icon revealed itself in the form of yet an earthquake which destroyed large parts of the city while the icon resisted destruction, the order was disclaimed. Increased deification of the Cristo de Pachacamilla (also called Christo Moreno, Señor de los Milagros) emerged from this event and as a consequence the ecclesiastical authorities of the Catholic Church in Lima eventually recognized these miraculous revelations and the location of the mural was turned into a convent which later became, and still is, the church of Las Nazarenas, located in the historic center of Lima. The processions honoring el Señor de los Milagros were in the beginning of the nineteenth century sponsored by the Mayordomo and the devoted – in Spanish los fieles devotos. In 1878, the first formalized brotherhood called Hermandad de Cargadores y Sahumadoras was formed; in 1911 the rules was approved by the ecclesiastic authorities and, finally in 1920, this institution obtained formal legal status. Until this day the yearly procession in honor of El Señor de los Milagros remains the most important public event in Lima, gathering thousands of people in the streets of the historical center during the whole month of October – mes morado (purple month) - following the image through the narrow streets in between booths selling turrón de Doña Pepa and clouds of smoke from palo santo and incense. Let us go out to the encounter of Our Lord of Miracles.