A Healing Journey

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A Healing Journey
Followers of El Nino trek to Mexico to pay homage, seek blessings from a 20th century healer, holy man.

by Icess Fernandez Caller-Times
October 23, 2004



Mayra Beltran/Caller-Times Andres Martinez, a pilgrim from Tamaulipas, México, begins his penance at El Pirulito where he will roll down the La Calle de los Penitentes and finish his penance by entering the temple where El Niño's tomb is located.	Mayra Beltran/Caller-Times Aurorita Martinez, a materia from Monclova, Nuevo León, México, plesses pilgrim Armando Moreno on the top of La Campana in Espinazo, the hometown of the 20th century healer Jose Fidencio Sintora Constantino, better known as El Niño.	Mayra Beltran/Caller-Times Alberto Guerrero of Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, México, and his mission walk three times around the sacred landmark pepper tree, El Niño meditated and healed the masses. It is tradition to make the walk as soon as missions arrive in Espinazo, Nuevo León, México.	Mayra Beltran/Caller-Times Fira Salas, a materia from Premont, holds on to El Niño's tomb and asks him for strength. About 30,000 pilgrims from México and the United States walk through the temple to pay homage to El Niño.

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ESPINAZO, México - Armed with the strength of their faith, five Coastal Bend residents recently traveled to a North Mexican town
that doesn't make it into travel brochures.

For two days, the group lived without simple luxuries such as running toilets, heated water, and paved roads. Why? To become
better people through the teachings of a man they never met but know well - Jose Fidencio Sintora Constantino, better known
as El Niño.

"El Nino shows you to have faith, compassion, and to have hope," said Fira Salas, a Premont resident on the trip. "With him you
never stop learning. I would feel alone without him." Salas, along with Juan Gonzalez of Robstown, Susie Gonzalez Chadden of
Corpus Christi, Carmen Brown of Aransas Pass and Carolina Hernandez of Gregory, traveled to Espinazo, México, on a
religious pilgrimage to pay homage to El Niño, a 20th century healer known for curing the sick through unconventional methods.
El Niño also was a holy man at a time when Catholicism was outlawed by the Mexican government.

Two hours from Monterrey, Espinazo is El Niño's hometown. It's also considered the holy land by Fidencistas or El Niño
believers, said Leo Carrillo, a former Texas A&M University -Corpus Christi professor who is writing a book about the Fidencista
movement. The town is home to several El Niño landmarks including El Pirulito, the tree the healer meditated and healed the
masses under, and El Charquito, the pool of muddy water El Niño used in his cures or curanciones. El Nino's tomb also is
located in Espinazo.

Fidencistas or followers of El Niño go to Espinazo to celebrate his birthday and the anniversary of his death, both of which are in
October. While there, followers visit sacred sites and fulfill promises or penitencias. They also ask for blessings for their
families and friends, or seek advice for problems in their lives. "They ask for everything from A to Z," said Tony Zavaleta, an
anthropologist who has been studying the movement for more than 20 years. "It's not just healing. Some have sons, daughters
or friends in Iraq and they go to seek an intercession for friends and loved ones. It's about marriages, drug abuse, kids, coming
back with a husband. It's everything in the human condition."

For the Coastal Bend group, the trip was a chance to strengthen their relationship with El Niño. All five had taken trips to
Espinazo before but never with each other. The group met one another during the years through mutual friends. The last time
Brown went to Espinazo was in 1996 after her mother died. Family also was on her mind this time around. As a mother, Brown
wants the best for her children and asked for a job for one of her children and blessings for her others.

"I'm looking for peace and understanding," she said. El Niño became a part of Brown's life early on. She said her family were
believers and took trips to Espinazo. Personally, El Niño has helped Brown through 10 surgeries for things such as carpal
tunnel syndrome and removing her appendix and tumors in her arms. She said at each surgery, El Nino guided her through.

"Every time I've gone under anesthesia I see him at the foot of my bed," she said. "I ask him to get me out of surgery." Because
of Brown's strong relationship with El Niño and her unyielding faith in his works, she, along with two others in the Coastal Bend
group, became materias. A materia can channel the spirit of El Niño and through him do curaciones. Since El Niño's death in
1938, these mediums have channeled his spirit and healed many.

Gonzalez became aware of El Niño through a family member 24 years ago but it wasn't until his near death experiences that he
became a materia. He said during one of his near death experiences El Niño came to him and told him his purpose was to
heal people.

Although fulfilling, Gonzalez, who travels to Espinazo twice a year, said there is a price to pay for being a materia. "When you
choose this life you have to really think about it," he said. "You lose your friends, your wife, everything. I lost my drinking buddy
and my family." Losing their former life happens to people who become materias, Carrillo said, because the commitment is so
different than traditional modern lifestyles and loved ones often don't understand.

"Some stop practicing," Carrillo said. Salas, who has been a materia for several years, started in the Fidencista movement after
being cured of nerves by a materia when she was 20. It was after being cured that she became a guardian or a helper for a
materia for six years. The guardian protects the materia while they're in a trance and gets whatever is requested by El Niño.

"I was very sick but the doctors didn't know what was wrong with me," she said. "I took medicine but it didn't take. I went to El
Niño and he cured me. When I needed him the most, he was there. He's done so many miracles for me. He has helped me
with my family. When I have felt the loneliest I feel he's been there."

Salas travels to Espinazo once a year because she promises El Niño she will do so. "I promise to come," she said. "I knew
about him but not a lot about his land."

Chadden and Hernandez are not materias but are believers in El Niño. Hernandez made the trip because she hadn't been in a
while and Chadden made the trip because she wanted to learn how to better help people. "It hurts me when I see people
suffer," Chadden said.

Contact Icess Fernandez at 886-3748 or fernandezi@caller.com

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Paving Way to Growth

The small desert town of Espinazo grows with pilgrimage of the Fidencistas, which occurs twice a
year. About 20 years ago, there wasn't even a road off the main highway into Espinazo; now the
is paved, said Tony Zavaleta, an anthropologist who has been studying the Fidencista movement
for more than 20 years. "People have seen opportunities to make a business and a home there,
"he said." "Espinazo has changed from a pueblo to a small village." The town's population remains
at about the 200 residents it was nearly 30 years ago, but swells by tens of thousands with the
pilgrimages according to Leo Carrillo, a former professor at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi
who is writing a book on the followers of Fidencio. Nearly 30 years ago the pilgrimages brought
20,000 attendees. Now an average year is about 30,000 to 40,000, he said, adding that this year
about 60,000 to 70,000 came.

— Icess Fernandez

Mayra Beltran/Caller-Times

Maria Consuelo Gil Flores, a
materia from Piedras Negras,
México, blesses a pilgrim from
her mission in the muddy waters
of El Charquito, a sacred land-
mark, where people are
submerged in water for
blessings.

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