Underworld saint becoming more popular in US

By RUSSELL CONTRERAS

Associated Press/Russell Contreras - in this Feb. 13, 2013 photo, statues of La Santa Muerte are shown at the Masks y Mas art store in Albuquerque, N.M. La Santa Muerte, an underworld saint most recently associated …more with the violent drug trade in Mexico, now is spreading throughout the U.S. among a new group of followers ranging from immigrant small business owners to artists and gay activists. In addition to showing up at drug crime scenes, the once-underground icon has been spotted on passion candles in Richmond, Va. grocery stores. The folk saint's image can be seen inside New York City apartments, in Minneapolis religious shops and during art shows in Tucson, Ariz. (AP Photo/Russell Contreras) less

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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A follower in New Orleans built a public shrine in her honor. An actor in Albuquerque credits her with helping him land a role on the TV show "Breaking Bad." She turns up routinely along the U.S.-Mexico border at safe houses, and is sighted on dashboards of cars used to smuggle methamphetamine through the southwest desert.

 

Popular in Mexico, and sometimes linked to the illicit drug trade, the skeleton saint known as La Santa Muerte in recent years has found a robust and diverse following north of the border: immigrant small business owners, artists, gay activists and the poor, among others — many of them non-Latinos and not all involved with organized religion.

Clad in a black nun's robe and holding a scythe in one hand, Santa Muerte appeals to people seeking all manner of otherworldly help: from fending off wrongdoing and carrying out vengeance to stopping lovers from cheating and landing better jobs. And others seek her protection for their drug shipments and to ward off law enforcement.

"Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary," said Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University. "Because you can ask her for anything, she has mass appeal and is now gaining a diverse group of followers throughout the country. She's the ultimate multi-tasker."

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