This prayer was answered, and Sebastiana soon succumbed to a fever and passed away. In the early devotional literature about the lives of Mariana and Sebastiana, it is related the father of Doña Sebastiana attempted to force her to marry against her will, but Sebastiana prayed earnestly to a personification of Death to be released from her predicament. Sebastiana de Caso's birthday was August 15 (the traditional date of the feast day Santa Muerte), and she was associated with the foundation of a pious society known as the Congregación de la Buena Muerte. Mariana de Jesus of Quito (1618–1645), an Ecuadorian virgin penitent. It has been recently suggested that the original Santa Muerta or Doña Sebastiana was, in fact, Doña Sebastiana de Caso y Paredes (b.1626), the niece of St. 'Holy Sebastian') or Doña Bella Sebastiana ('Beautiful Lady Sebastienne') and La Flaca ('The Skinny Woman'). Santa Muerte is also known by a wide variety of other names: the Skinny Lady ( la Flaquita), the Bony Lady ( la Huesuda), the White Girl ( la Niña Blanca), the White Sister ( la Hermana Blanca), the Pretty Girl ( la Niña Bonita), the Powerful Lady ( la Dama Poderosa), the Godmother ( la Madrina), Señora de las Sombras ('Lady of the Shadows'), Señora Blanca ('White Lady'), Señora Negra ('Black Lady'), Niña Santa ('Holy Girl'), Santa Sebastiana ('Saint Sebastienne', i.e. A variant of this is Santísima Muerte, which is translated as 'Most Holy Death' or 'Most Saintly Death', and devotees often call her Santisma Muerte during their rituals. Andrew Chesnut believes that the former is a more accurate translation because it 'better reveals' her identity as a folk saint. Santa Muerte can be translated into English as either 'Saint Death' or 'Holy Death', although the professor of Religious studies R. ĭevotees praying to Santa Muerte, Mexico. in Latin American history and professor of Religious studies, the cult of Santa Muerte is the single fastest-growing new religious movement in the Americas. Santa Muerte has similar male counterparts in the American continent, such as the skeletal folk saints San La Muerte of Paraguay and Rey Pascual of Guatemala. The number of believers in Santa Muerte has grown over the past ten to twenty years, to an estimated 10–20 million followers in Mexico, parts of Central America, the United States, and Canada. Since the beginning of the 21st century, worship has become more public, especially in Mexico City after a believer called Enriqueta Romero initiated her famous Mexico City shrine in 2001. Most prayers and other rites have been traditionally performed privately at home. The cult of Santa Muerte began in Mexico some time in the mid-20th century and was clandestine until the 1990s. Her robe can be of any color, as more specific images of the figure vary widely from devotee to devotee and according to the rite being performed or the petition being made.

Originally appearing as a male figure, Santa Muerte now generally appears as a skeletal female figure, clad in a long robe and holding one or more objects, usually a scythe and a globe. Despite condemnation by leaders of the Catholic Church, and more recently evangelical movements, her following has become increasingly prominent since the turn of the 21st century. : 296–297 A personification of death, she is associated with healing, protection, and safe delivery to the afterlife by her devotees. Nuestra Señora de la Santa Muerte ( Spanish: Spanish for Our Lady of the Holy Death), often shortened to Santa Muerte, is a cult image, female deity, and folk saint in folk Catholicism and Mexican Neopaganism. Globe, scale of justice, hourglass, oil lampĬentral America, Mexico, the (primarily Southwestern) United States, and Canada Lady of Shadows, Lady of Night, White Lady, Black Lady, Skinny Lady, Bony Lady, Mictēcacihuātl (Lady of the Dead)Ī wide variety of powers including love, prosperity, good health, fortune, healing, safe passage, protection against witchcraft, protection against assaults, protection against gun violence, protection against violent deathĮarliest temple is the Shrine of Most Holy Death founded by Enriqueta Romero in Mexico City

Close-up of a Santa Muerte south of Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas

Grim reaper scythe lantern