Teresa Urrea and Popular Religiosity in Old Mexico

Introduction: Fanaticism or Popular Religiosity?

There are numerous ways one can explain the intense attachment of the Tomochitecos to Teresa Urrea. Nonetheless, characterizing that attachment as fanatical is not quite accurate. When one considers all of the logical reasons why these people revered this woman, the affinity they expressed toward and about her becomes far less fanatical — and simply another manifestation of popular religiosity in Mexico. Granted, there is a fine line between these sentiments. Still, the Tomochitecos' regard for Urrea encompassed the latter rather than the former, because her strong political influence was firmly rooted in religion and healing.

Political Foundations of the Tomochitecos' Devotion

Ultimately, it was the practicality of the attachment the Tomochitecos had to Urrea that underscores the fact that it was not fanatical in nature. Were this people's valuation of Urrea merely based on her religious influence, the devotion they had for her might rightfully have been called fanatical. However, Urrea was a strong political figure for most of her life. She spoke about justice and injustice in very real terms that were applicable to these native peoples, and which were critical of the organized Mexican government that dispossessed them of land.¹ In fact, she addressed justice and injustice in terms that applied to all power struggles between the enfranchised (like Reyes Dominguez)² and the disenfranchised — a dynamic to which the Tomochitecos could directly relate.

Therefore, the fervor with which these "dissenters"³ regarded this woman was based on revolutionary ideals as much as on religious ones. As such, their devotion was too practical to warrant the label of fanaticism. Instead, there was a direct correlation between their invocation of this woman's image and name and the goals that both they and she sought to achieve against the government. The life and legacy of Teresa Urrea thus cannot be separated from the broader political struggles of native communities in late nineteenth-century Mexico.

Conclusion: A Practical Reverence

Overall, the Tomochitecos' regard for Teresa Urrea was much too practical to be dismissed as religious fanaticism. She was able to speak up for these people and do for them what they needed done in the "revolutionary state"⁶ of Mexico. Specifically, she spoke out against those "governing Mexico"⁷ and gave voice to a sentiment that, though widespread at the time, resonated more powerfully from her than from any other speaker. Her revolutionary rhetoric and beliefs had the potential to affect the lives of all Tomochitecos, whether or not they believed she possessed supernatural powers. Furthermore, those whom she healed were better able to navigate the physical world than they had been before. In this regard, her influence was something real and not merely based on hearsay or unsubstantiated belief. Her values and the health she was able to restore to various people provided the Tomochitecos with concrete, pragmatic reasons to believe in her — reasons that place their devotion squarely within the tradition of popular religiosity rather than fanaticism.

Endnotes

¹ Paul Vanderwood, The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2002), 72.

² Vanderwood, The Power, 75.

³ Vanderwood, The Power, 14.

⁴ Vanderwood, The Power, 15.

⁵ Vanderwood, The Power, 15.

⁶ Gilbert M. Joseph and Timothy J. Henderson, The Mexico Reader (North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2002), 2.

⁷ Joseph and Henderson, Mexico, 4.

Bibliography

Joseph, Gilbert M., and Henderson, Timothy J. The Mexico Reader. North Carolina: Duke University Press, 2002.

Vanderwood, Paul. The Power of God Against the Guns of Government: Religious Upheaval in Mexico at the Turn of the Nineteenth Century. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.