Mexico is a culturally enormous country; it is ranked on different international indicators as the second place among the six countries with the greatest cultural and biological diversity in the world (after Indonesia). There are different factors that led it to be as complex as it is today in terms of ethics and moral identity; from the great Mesoamerican civilizations and the colonization of the Spanish Empire, to the complex popular culture of crime in the 21st century.
October 28 is the birthday of Saint Jude Thaddeus, known as “The Saint of Difficult and Helpless Causes.” Thousands of Mexicans arrive from different parts of the city, the country and outside it, to celebrate the saint in the Temple of San Hipolito, located at the intersection of Reforma and Hidalgo, in the heart of Mexico City.
Saint Jude Thaddeus was one of the twelve apostles of Jesus. The origin of his devotion to Mexico is difficult to specify, but there are sociologists who place the beginnings in 1927 in the city of Chicago, United States, where Father James Tort arrived fleeing due to the battles of the Mexican Revolution.
The United States and the entire world were going through a crisis of layoffs, lack of employment and economic insecurity due to the phenomenon called “The Great Depression.” To confront him, Tort founded the Mexican Aid Society in Chicago. He did all this by promoting the image of San Judas Tadeo as “The Patron Saint of Causes without Hope”. It was there that he found an echo in the popular migrant neighborhoods, especially the Mexican ones.
Little by little, through families and their members, the devotion migrated to Mexico City. It was in 1982 when the image of San Judas Tadeo arrived at the temple of San Hipolito and the rest is history: the saint of difficult and desperate causes was taking place in Mexican popular culture. As in Chicago with “The Great Depression”, now Mexicans approach him to ask for miracles in matters of health, forgiveness, crime and freedom from prison.
It will not be until the 21st century that, with the crisis of crime and violence in Mexico, it begins to be associated with the culture of drug trafficking. In 2023, a giant statue of San Judas Tadeo (the largest in the world) was inaugurated in the Central Park of Badiraguato, Sinaloa; town that is known as “The Cradle of Drug Trafficking”, for being the birthplace of drug traffickers such as Joaquin Archivaldo Guzman Loaera “El Chapo”.
About the author: Manuel Leyva
Native to the desert of Mexico, Manuel was born in 1987. He graduate at UABC university in Baja California, Mexico. He has been published in Los Angeles Press an independent free journalism media and some NGO’s like Save The Children. His experience is built from assisting in large productions such as AMC’s “Fear the Walking Death” to being a filmmaker for international NGO’s such as Sea Shepherd, being fixer for photo art journalism, reporter and documentary film festivals like DOCS MX. Everything you will see on his website has been written, directed, photographed and edited by himself.
