Holy Dirt in the Hills of New Mexico

CNN
By William Walker

NEW MEXICO - El Santuario de Chimayo, the Roman Catholic adobe mission church set in these hills of northern New Mexico, dates from 1816. Here, on Good Friday night around 1810, a Chimayo friar reportedly found a miraculous crucifix glowing on the ground near the Santa Cruz River. The church is built on the site of the reported discovery. During Holy Week - culminating on Good Friday - thousands of pilgrims converge on Chimayo. Some pilgrims walk a few yards, others a hundred miles or more. Many pilgrims believe that sacred earth from the shrine possesses miraculous healing powers. Testimonies of healing powers at Chimayo date to 1813, when Father Sebastian Alvarez wrote of cures for ailments. Visitors to Chimayo often take "holy dirt" from a pit in the shrine where the crucifix was reportedly found. Some rub it on their skin, others eat it; many claim to have been cured of disease, illness and infirmity. [link]