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" Or, as South Carolina plantation mistress Mary Chesnut lamented: "Our world has gone to destruction.
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Exact numbers of her followers are impossible to determine, but they are clearly growing, Chesnut said.
WSJ: Underworld saint becoming more popular in US
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"He specifically referenced Marti as a fighter against 'dynasties, ' a reference of course to the five-decadelong Castro regime, " Chesnut said.
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"Her growth in the United States has been extraordinary, " said Andrew Chesnut, author of "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint" and the Bishop Walter F.
WSJ: Underworld saint becoming more popular in US
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Some devotees pray to the saint by building altars and offering votive candles, fruits, tequila, cigarettes even lines of cocaine in some cases in exchange for wishes, Chesnut said.
WSJ: Underworld saint becoming more popular in US
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For decades, though, La Santa Muerte remained an underground figure in isolated regions of Mexico and served largely as an unofficial Catholic saint that women called upon to help with cheating spouses, Chesnut said.
WSJ: Underworld saint becoming more popular in US
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"No other region is as important to the future of the church, or could use an intervention, as much as Latin America, " said Andrew Chesnut, who holds the Bishop Walter Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and has written several books on Christianity in Latin America.
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