4/16/09
Darrell Mondragon and his sister Rose Adams set off for Chimayó by foot April 9 at 3 a.m. from their home in Taos in windy 30 degree weather. This was their 10th consecutive Good Friday pilgrimage to El Santuario de Chimayo.
As they walked into the courtyard of the Santuario on April 10 just after 8 a.m., Mondragon placed both hands in front of a wooden cross resting on top of a block of adobe. Adams was a step behind and placed her arm around her brother. Their faces were a mixture of pain and relief.
“We’ve done this for many years and it’s a family tradition,” Adams said. “It gives us peace of mind and inner strength.”
Indeed, many of the thousands who walked to the Santuario that day shared that same face of relief and pain upon their arrival at the most famous church in Northern New Mexico. Many came to take home the soil where a penitente named Don Bernardo Abeyta was believed to have found a cross that shone out of the ground. The chapel was built where the cross lay sometime around 1816, and ever since pilgrims have come to the Santuario for the healing powers they believe that soil carries.
Chimayó native Anna Espinoza said she has been volunteering at the Santuario every Good Friday for the past six years. She said she began to believe in the healing powers of the Santuario after meeting a Colorado woman who credits the chapel with curing her of cancer.
“I want to believe that they come for spiritual purposes and ask for special intentions and to pray for relatives and friends,” Espinoza said. “I think if they have an injury, they feel better.”
Jose and Estolia Martinez, both 74, said they have not missed a pilgrimage since they got married 52 years ago. They live behind Holy Family Catholic Church just a few miles west of the Santuario and arrived Good Friday just before 11 a.m.
The couple said they also believe in the miraculous power of the Santuario. Estolia Martinez said she suffered from a heart attack four years ago and has had three bypass surgeries since the attack.
“(We’ve been walking) every year as far back as I can remember,” Jose Martinez said. “So we give thanks for being alive.”
Minutes after the Martinez couple passed, the sound of drums and electric guitars began filling the air along State Road 76 at the New Hope Family Worship Center. The Center’s band started singing their version of “How Far Is Heaven” by Los Lonely Boys.
A large crowd began approaching the Center as the band continued to play. This crowd met at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Santa Cruz at 7 a.m. and was led by Santa Fe Archbishop Michael Sheehan.
“I’ve been the Archbishop for 15 years,” Sheehan said. “I’ve never missed the pilgrimage to thank God for the good things that happen and to express our love to God.”
Sheehan and his entourage reached the Santuario around 11:30 a.m. By this time, the whole area was filled with visitors. The line to get into the Santuario extended beyond the courtyard and reached the street.
Sheehan led his group behind the Santuario and down a flight of stairs. In front of an alter surrounded by cement benches, Sheehan began a prayer service in the open air. He said people come to the Santuario for three reasons every year.
“A lot of us come here to ask favors from God,” Sheehan said. “Others are here to thank God for the favors that he’s given us. Other people come out of curiosity and maybe to see if they know anyone. We hope that people come for reasons one and two.”
Father Julio Gonzalez, the Santuario’s pastor, said he had observed people with more focus in their prayers than other Good Fridays. Gonzalez said he did not know how many people visit the Santuario every year. He jokingly said that he refers to newspapers to learn how many people made the pilgrimage.
Gonzalez did say volunteers prepared about 8,000 bags of the Santuario’s dirt to be handed out to visitors of the Santuario. He said he hoped that it would be enough. Around 5 p.m. State Police Lt. Eric Garcia said he could not estimate how many people made the pilgrimage. Garcia said no major incidents occurred and that his department was mainly concerned with crowd control.
By 6 p.m. the line into the Santuario still reached the street but the surrounding areas had emptied to a certain degree.
Carlitos Medina looked tired. Medina, who owns a gallery and shop across from the Santuario, had been selling nachos since the early afternoon.
Medina said he lost count of how many plates of nachos he sold. Next door to Medina at the Peregrimo Cafe, Crystal Candelario said she sold over 500 snow cones.
Lynette Borrego and her two daughters, Shaniah and Angelique Borrego, enjoyed some of Medina’s nachos after walking from San Pedro. They said they dedicated their walk this year to a family friend who had drowned weeks earlier.
Lynette Borrego said she has walked to the Santuario in every year except one since she was 6 years old, and she is now 36.
“Every year, we get nachos and ice cream,” 19-year-old Angelique Borrego said. “It’s a family tradition.”