Santo Niño de Atocha

When Americans think of the Christ Child, the Baby Jesus, the Niño, they usually think of – well, a baby. However, European artistic tradition frequently depicted the Child as a sort of small, regal adult, and many images related to European and Spanish New World devotions reflect this.

Last month, I posted a photo I had taken at a mission in California of a figure of the Christ Child dressed as a pilgrim. A reader, Janet C, pointed out that this was the Santo Niño de Atocha, a popular 16^th century devotion that was brought to the New World by the Spanish.

But who was he? The Santo Niño de Atocha was originally a figure held by another figure, the Virgin of Atocha. The devotion appears to have begun in the town of Atocha, near Madrid, during its subjugation to the Muslims, and is mentioned in the Cantigas of Alfonso el Sabio in the 13^th century. Legend has it that Christians were held captives by the Muslims in a prison in the town, and were forbidden to receive any help or visitors, except for children. The women of the town prayed before an image of Our Lady, Nra Sra de Atocha, and the prisoners were then visited by a young child, dressed as a pilgrim to Santiago, who brought them food and water. He came every day until they were released, and the women in the town saw that the shoes of the little child held in the arms of the statue of the Virgin of Atocha were dusty and dirty from all the walking the Child did as he aided the Christian prisoners. When the prisoners gained their freedom, they went to offer a prayer of thanksgiving to the Child and his Mother. The Santo Niño de Atocha is the patron of persons unjustly imprisoned.

When the Muslims were finally driven out, the devotion remained, and when the Spanish sailed to the New World, they brought it with them. It took root throughout Latin America, particularly in the silver mining areas of Mexico, where the Santo Niño was believed to come to the aid of miners who were trapped underground.

This is still a popular devotion, and holy cards and statues of the Santo Niño de Atocha are sold throughout Latin America. The most important shrines are in Fresnillos and Plateros, Mexico, and there is another major shrine in Chimayo, New Mexico. Pilgrims frequently leave baby shoes at the shrine, so that the shoes on the figure at the shrine in Chimayo can be regularly changed because tradition holds the Child endlessly walks the roads, looking for people in distress.

The Niño is based on a traditional figure meant for dressing, such as the other famous Spanish figure, the Infant of Prague. However, the Santo Niño de Atocha is usually shown seated on a throne and holding the symbols of the pilgrim: the staff with the gourd, the scallop shell, and the wide-brimmed hat. He also carries wheat sheaves and a set of shackles on his staff, as well as a basket of bread or flowers in his other hand, representing his help to the prisoners. Variants will show the Niño standing, and there is another image, showing the Niño dressed in blue with shackles at his feet, that is known as the Niño Cautivo (Child Prisoner), reflecting the story of a 17^th century Spanish priest who was taken captive and killed by Muslim pirates of the coast of Spain while trying to bring an image of the Santo Niño de Atocha to Mexico City.

An interesting story about the Santo Niño is that during WWII, National Guard soldiers from New Mexico who had been captured by the Japanese and held as prisoners on Corregidor, Bataan, and other Japanese prison camps made a vow that if they survived they would make a pilgrimage to the shrine of the help of prisoners, the Santo Niño de Atocha in Chimayo, New Mexico. At the end of the war, some 2000 survivors made the pilgrimage, some of them walking barefoot to the shrine.

The photo below is a 19^th century Latin American figure. It is from a truly excellent website on iconography maintained by a J.R. Stracke, Emeritus Professor of English, at Augusta State University in Georgia.

 

Comments

[adan carriaga]

i am building a oratorio en honor del Santo Nino de Atocha in New Mexico.