DOI
10.32436/2475-6423.1190
Abstract
This article compares divergent votive practices at Notre Dame de Lourdes in France and El Santuario de Chimayó in New Mexico. Lourdes’ embrace of modern aesthetic values—simplicity, order, and functional clarity—has led to the removal and tight regulation of most ex-votos. By contrast, Chimayó’s roots in Latin American Baroque aesthetics, with its emphasis on abundance, drama, and hybridity, create space for a vibrant proliferation of offerings. Drawing on Jacques Rancière’s theory of aesthetics and politics as the “distribution of the sensible,” the article shows how aesthetic judgments intertwine with clerical power to curate, constrain, and authorize pilgrims’ access to the sacred.
Recommended Citation
Bibeau, Gabrielle
(2025)
"The Untameability of the Sacred: Votive Traditions at Notre Dame de Lourdes and El Santuario de Chimayó,"
Journal of Global Catholicism:
Vol. 10:
Iss.
1, Article 3. p.58-87.
DOI: 10.32436/2475-6423.1190
Available at:
https://crossworks.holycross.edu/jgc/vol10/iss1/3
Included in
Catholic Studies Commons, Christian Denominations and Sects Commons, Christianity Commons, Comparative Methodologies and Theories Commons, Cultural History Commons, Folklore Commons, History of Christianity Commons, History of Religion Commons, Latin American Languages and Societies Commons, Latin American Studies Commons, Liturgy and Worship Commons, Missions and World Christianity Commons, Oral History Commons, Other Anthropology Commons, Other International and Area Studies Commons, Place and Environment Commons, Politics and Social Change Commons, Practical Theology Commons, Race and Ethnicity Commons, Race, Ethnicity and Post-Colonial Studies Commons, Regional Sociology Commons, Religious Thought, Theology and Philosophy of Religion Commons, Rural Sociology Commons, Social and Cultural Anthropology Commons, Social History Commons, Sociology of Culture Commons, Sociology of Religion Commons, Women's Studies Commons