Mexicans turn to St. Charalambos for protection against COVID-19

In Chiapas , Mexico, people are turning to St. Charalambos to prevent the spread of COVID-19 . People in Chiapas see St. Charalambos as the one who saved them from an epidemy in 1813.

In recent weeks, amid the COVID-19 pandemic , and despite physical distancing and the call to stay home, Catholics in Comitán carried out a pilgrimage to ask the Greek saint to protect Mexico from coronavirus .

According to historians, Comitán was struck by smallpox in 1950. Years before, in 1813, there was a cholera epidemic that originated in China.

In 1813, landowner Raymundo Solís prayed to St. Charalambos to protect the people of Comitán against the disease and when the miracle took place, the man donated a parcel of land where a church in honor of St. Charalambos was built.

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According to anthropologist Carlos Navarrete, in 1862, Governor Juan Climaco Corzo issued a decree to celebrate St. Charalambos in the state of Chiapas .

According to sources, the image of St. Charalambo s was brought to Chiapas by a soldier.

Charalambos

was a Greek priest who was executed for professing his religion in times of Emperor Severus , who governed Ephesus , now Turkey, between 193 and 211.

Since the late 19th century, indigenous people from Comitán, La Trinitaria, Las Margaritas, La Independencia, and Altamirano carry out a pilgrimage to the temple of St. Charalambos to ask for health, rin, and good harvests.

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