A brief history of the Jews in Mexico
Curious coming to Mexico's Mormon Colonia Juarez
Miles and other Mormon pioneers made something out of almost nothing and the small towns are is still there in the Chihuahua desert, not far from the Piedras Verdes River, on the flat ground near the Sierra Madre Occidental.
Colonia Juarez is 15 or 20 kilometers southwest of Casas Grandes. read more
Was the Aztec's Nahuatl literature a Spanish invention? Translation and evangelism
Our Lady of Guadalupe: Tonantzin or the Virgin Mary?
It was on December 9, 1531, when Juan Diego, a humble Indian peasant, was crossing the hill of Tepeyac just north of present day Mexico City that — it is said— a beautiful shining woman miraculously appeared to him. Declaring herself to be the Virgin Mary, Mother of Christ, she called Juan her son. He reported his vision to Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, who demanded additional evidence of the divine apparition. On December 12 then, Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac, where the Virgin told him to gather roses where none had grown previously. Then, when the Indian delivered the roses to the Bishop, the image of the Virgin Mary miraculously appeared on his cloak.
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Did you know? The first Archbishop of Oaxaca: a miraculous birth and re-birth
In 1887, Eulogio Gregorio Clemente Gillow y Zavalza (1841-1922) was appointed Bishop of Antequera (Oaxaca). Four years later, he became the first Archbishop of Antequera. Named after a town in Spain, A...
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Did you know? Mexico's first tourists
Father Alonso Ponce and Friar Antonio de Ciudad Real were probably Mexico's first ever tourists.
Father Alonso Ponce de León arrived in Veracruz in September 1584 and spent the next five years travel...
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Mesoamerican Religion: Symbolism of the Gods Part One
Our main sources of information on pre-Hispanic religion in Mesoamerica include archaeological monuments and Classic murals, as well as Landa's Relación and ethnological reports of surviving religious...
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Religion In Latin America: A Documentary History
Religion in Latin America: A Documentary History
By Lee M. Penyak and Walter J. Petry
Orbis Books, 2006
Available from Amazon Books: Paperback
Reviewed by James Tipton © Ja...
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The Power and the Glory by Graham Greene
The story is based on an actual event in Mexican history when, in 1926, then President Calles began a persecution of the Roman Catholic Church by burning churches and killing priests and, in general, creating a Godless country. The reason for the persecution was what the government called the Church's greed and debauchery. The campaign was more successful in some states than in others. Tabasco was the most rabid persecutor and the Governor, Tomas Garrido Canabal, actually drove every priest out of the state. Canabal was determined to show that a well-run society was possible without allowing any place for religion. Churches were destroyed and the stones used to pave roads. To protect the populace he also outlawed alcohol and jazz. The importation of saxophones was banned. One follower was so devoted to the cause he carried a business card which explained that he was the personal enemy of God. In some cases a citizen could be severely penalized for saying "Adios" simply because it referred to God.
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The Catholic Church in Mexico: Triumphs and traumas
It is a tribute to the sincerity and strength of the faith of the Mexican people, that Catholicism, is still the dominant religion in this land south of the Rio Grande. Time after time, the Catholic Ch...
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Jews in Mexico. a struggle for survival: Part Three
Survivors.
The very word has connotations of persecution, repression, hardship and escape. It also describes people with courage, stamina, the ability to adapt and almost always a moral strength and c...
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Jews in Mexico, a struggle for survival: Part Two
The vast majority of the approximately 50,000 Mexican citizens who practice Judaism via organized congregations are descendents of people who, from 1881 to 1939, found life-saving refuge in this countr...
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Jews in Mexico, a struggle for survival: Part One
The survival of Judaism in Mexico is a tale of tenacity and tolerance. The story begins in Spain with the "Conversos", Jews who had converted to Christianity, always under duress.
It starts in 600 AD,...
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