Kind, gentle, humble, mother to all. This is the traditional Catholic image of the Virgin Mary. Beginning in the fifth century A.D., the popular devotion to the mother of Christ increased rapidly in Europe. Numerous apparitions and accompanying shrines during the late Medieval and early modern period demonstrated her new role in folk Catholicism. In Spain, as in other areas of Europe, the Virgin Mary became one of the major intercessional images, protecting believers from drought, floods, and sickness. Considering her role in the popular belief system of the Iberian peninsular, it was only logical that the sacred image of Mary would travel the Atlantic to New Spain and appear to Native American neophytes who years earlier had worshipped Tonantzin, mother earth, among other female deities. The image of the Virgin Mary could easily incorporate diverse groups under a single symbolic entity. Catholicism held that she was open to all, listened to all, aided all of pure heart. Mary was a force of integration; yet, depending upon the circumstances and the believers, such devotion could also fragment society This study analyzes the history of one such symbol; an integrating force that is best remembered as being one of the most divisive: the Virgin of Remedies of Mexico City.

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he great festival, religious or civic, in many respects dominated the urban landscape of colonial Mexico and invariably was affiliated with secular or religious authorities. 1 The Spaniard in the sixteenth century faced a newly conquered territory and-even with the demographic disaster-a kingdom composed of linguistically and ethnically diverse peoples. The initial goal of recreating or perfecting Europe in the New World gave way to the real complexity of colonial society. 2 Though called New Spain, Mexico would not be Spain. Consequently, from a purely political perspective control was a pivotal consideration of the Spanish, and institutions such as the labor draft, slavery, tribute, the reduction of Native villages, and the caste system, all sought to establish and maintain control just as much as local militia. This quest to maintain stability (i.e., the status quo) extended to the grand fete. Large-scale spectacle, already a feature of Late Medieval and Early Modern European life, crossed the Atlantic. In the Old World, these festivals served a myriad of functions. For example, they were hegemonic tools of the State, they articulated or sustained community or group identity, and they defined human-divine relations. In the New World, Spanish colonists 1 Festivals such as feasts of community patron saints, also were an integral part of village or rural life. However, the essays here define the elaborate, costly, and extraordinarily sumptuous rituals only possible in colonial cities and larger towns. 2 This transition is seen most clearly with the evangelization program of the sixteenth century. See

was not only a political event for the Spanish, but a religious event as well. In the early 16th century, the Reformation, the Counter-Reformation and the Inquisition were in full force in most of Europe. The Catholic Monarchs of Castile and Aragon had just reconquered the last ...

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