The Black Christ of Esquipulas and nineteenth-century Central American pilgrimage

Record summary

The Black Christ of Esquipulas became one of Central America’s most important pilgrimage images, with nineteenth-century shrine expansion, regional travel and devotional reports of healing or protection. Its significance extends across Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador, making it useful for comparing transnational pilgrimage, racialized iconography and institutional recording of favors. The image’s origin and reported miracles belong to a long tradition rather than a single nineteenth-century incident. Researchers should locate particular printed novenas, shrine registers or clerical investigations before treating a cure claim as individually documented.