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first aperance
The first documented appearance of Santa Muerte as a venerated figure in Mexico was in a 1797 Inquisition report on idolatrous practices by indigenous worshipers. -
Revival of a religion
The first reference to the Santa Muerte religion after 1797 was in the novel Los Hijos de Sánchez (The Children of Sanchez) by American anthropologist Oscar Lewis in 1961. One of the characters, Martha, says “My sister Antonia (…) told me that when husbands are straying, you can pray to the Santa Muerte. It is a novena that should be prayed at twelve o’clock.” however, during this time, the cult hadn't been fully established. -
Rise in popularity
The religion of Santa Muerte first gained popular attention in Mexico in August of 1998, when police arrested notorious gangster Daniel Arizmendi López and discovered a shrine to the saint in his home. Widely reported in the press, this discovery inspired the common association between Santa Muerte, violence, and criminality in Mexican popular consciousness. -
The rise of a religion
In the late 2000s, David Romo estimated that there were around 5 million devotees in Mexico, constituting approximately 5% of the country's population. By the late 2000s, Santa Muerte had become Mexico's second-most popular saint, after Saint Jude, and had come to rival the country's "national patroness", the Virgin of Guadalupe. -
The first public shrine
In 2001, Enriqueta Romero, a religious crusader, established the first public shrine devoted to Santa Muerte in Tepito. -
Religious Controversy
In March of 2009, the Mexican army demolished 40 roadside shrines near the U.S. border due to the religion becoming more controversial, especially among Catholic religious groups that view it as unholy in nature. -
A Growing Movement
Currently, the Santa Muerte religion is one of the fastest-growing new religious movements in the world and is the fastest-growing new religious movement in the Americas. It is currently estimated to have 10 to 12 million followers in counting.