By all accounts, Santo Santiago ranks among Mexico’s most popular patron saints. A total of 526 towns and cities across the country bear his name.
Traditional festivities in many of these places stem from the saint’s legendary divine role in suppressing pagan practices during the Spanish conquest. Santiago is typically depicted as a bold, sword-wielding soldier mounted on a powerful white steed—a holy conqueror symbolizing the triumph of good over evil in the Roman Catholic faith.
Known in English as Saint James the Greater, he was one of Christ’s 12 apostles and the only one whose martyrdom—by beheading in 44 CE under the orders of King Herod Agrippa—is recorded in the New Testament.
Please login or subscribe to view the complete article.