Events

The feast of Corpus Christi (body and blood of Christ) is celebrated on the first Thursday of June as a special veneration of symbolic body and blood of Christ in communion wafers and wine.  The indigenous were intrigued not only by the notion of a …

Mules’ Day (Día de las Mulas) is associated with pre-Hispanic rituals in which people gave thanks to deities through offerings.  It is believed that a mule knelt in reverence to God on the day of Corpus Christi which is celebrated the same day. To give or receive …

Día de los Locos takes place on the Sunday closest to June 13, St. Anthony’s feast day. St. Anthony is the saint you beseech to find anything lost, including people.  Though the flamboyant procession of costumes and masks of politicians, actors, cartoon characters and monsters …

Eight days after Corpus Christi is the Octave of Christ in the Oratorio.  Once organized by the students at the college next door, San Francisco de Sales, the altars were placed inside the college plus special decorations were put in the church.

The devotion to the Sacred Heart is one of the most widely practiced and well-known Roman Catholic devotions, taking Jesus Christ’s physical heart as the representation of his divine love for humanity.  It is celebrated as the feast day for men named Jesus (as Christmas is reserved to honor Jesus’ birth). …

Saint John the Baptist was Jesus’ cousin and is unique among patron saint days as being the only person, other than Jesus, who is commemorated on his birthday, June 24th.  Normally patron saint dates (or feast days, as those named as the saint get to …

The Monastery of Solitude (Monasterio de La Soledad) is a Benedictine Cloister in the hinterlands surrounding San Miguel.  Here eleven men live a life dedicated to constant prayer and reflection since 1990. The monks are an order of Saint Benedict, whose feast day is July 11th.  He …

Mount Carmel is a Holy Land mountain located in a richly forested area at the southern end of a long fertile valley inhabited since the Stone Age. The beauty of the mountain is frequently mentioned in the Old Testament. The feast day we now celebrate on …

The Feast of Jesus of Nazareth de Atotonilco (also known in Nahuatl as the God of the Hot Water) is celebrated at its namesake church in the small village of Atotonilco seven miles from San Miguel.  The church attracts about 5,000 visitors every week. The …

James was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus, and the first apostle to be martyred. Once beheaded by Herod Agrippa himself, his body was taken up by angels, and sailed in a rudderless, unattended boat to Spain where he had converted locals earlier in his life. …

Saint Ann (Ana, Anna, Hannah or Anne) was the mother of Mary and grandmother to Jesus.  Her husband was Joachim (Joaquin).  Their combined feast day is July 26th. Normally statues of Mary and Joseph flank an altar.  However, in the Santa Anna church in San …

Saint Ann (Ana, Anna, Hannah or Anne) was the mother of Mary and grandmother to Jesus.  Her husband was Joachim (Joaquin).  Their combined feast day is July 26th. Normally statues of Mary and Joseph flank an altar.  However, in the Santa Anna church in San …