These beautiful Peruvian devotions deserve to be known

Originally from Chicago, Leo XIV is also a citizen of Peru, the country of his heart. He obtained nationality in 2015, the year he became bishop of Chiclayo. On the day of his election, May 8, 2025, he hailed “his beloved diocese of Chiclayo,” which he described as “a proud people.”

According to the 2023 report on religious freedom by Aid to the Church in Need, 96% of Peru's population is Christian, the majority of which are Catholics.

The Church has played an important role in the historical, cultural, and moral formation of the country. Many missionary priests contributed to the founding of the nation by developing cities, caring for the poorest, providing access to education for indigenous populations, and enabling women to attend university.

In fact, Peru's two most famous universities were founded by religious communities. The Dominicans founded the University of San Marcos in 1551, and Father Jorge Dintilhac of the Sacred Hearts founded the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru in 1917.

Catholicism was the state religion from the Spanish colonization (1527-1533) until 1979. Today, it still inspires great fervor among the faithful, though much less so in large cities. There, it’s in decline under the increasingly strong influence of various evangelical groups.

Peru has given birth to great saints who deserve to be known, and has built shrines that still perpetuate beautiful devotions to Christ and the Virgin Mary. This Latin and popular piety may well influence the pontificate of Leo XIV.

Peru was fertile soil for the sanctity of three figures who have been declared saints by the Catholic Church and who are greatly revered by Peruvians.

The most venerated is St. Rose of Lima (1586-1617), the first saint of the New World. She has become the patron saint of Peru and the city of Lima, as well as of the Americas, the Philippines, the national police, and the Catholic University of Peru.

Born Isabel Flores de Oliva, the 10th child of a poor family in Lima, St. Rose of Lima was a Dominican tertiary who spent part of her life in a tiny hermitage at the bottom of her parents' garden, in prayer and austerity. She had an ardent zeal for the salvation of sinners and native peoples, for whom she wished to give her life, and she subjected herself to all kinds of suffering in order to win them over to Christ.

St. Martin de Porres (1579-1639) is the patron saint of those who suffer humiliation. The son of a former black Peruvian slave and a Spanish nobleman from Castile who did not acknowledge him, St. Martin de Porres endured a lifetime of humiliation and contempt because of his illegitimate birth and the color of his skin.

At the age of 22, he entered the Dominican Order as a lay tertiary and nurse. When he learned that his convent was crippled by debt, he begged the prior to sell him into slavery “so that he might at least be useful to the community.” (They didn’t take him up on the offer.) Very popular in Peru, he is invoked by all those who feel contempt or deep suffering.

Finally, Peruvians also turn to St. Toribio de Mogrovejo (1538-1606), known as “the builder,” a great protector of the indigenous peoples of Peru. Originally from Mayorga in Spain, he was still a layman when he was appointed archbishop of the Diocese of Lima by King Philip II. There he opened the first seminary in Latin America and built churches, convents, hospitals, roads, and schools.

Devotion to Our Lady of Mount Carmel (la Virgen del Carmen) is undoubtedly the most widespread Marian devotion in Peru. It grew considerably in Latin America from the 16th century onwards with the Spanish missions. It’s celebrated on a massive scale on July 16, particularly in Paucartambo, in the Cuzco region, where she is affectionately known as “Mamacha del Carmen.”

Another Marian devotion gives rise to a major annual festival, particularly in Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca: the feast of the Our Lady of Candlemas, or Candelaria, which commemorates the Presentation of Jesus in the Temple and the purification of the Virgin on February 2. The image associated with the Virgin of Candlemas is that of an apparition of the Virgin who is said to have appeared to two young shepherds on the island of Tenerife in Spain.

Finally, Our Lady of the Gate (La Virgen de la Puerta) is a Marian devotion widespread in northern Peru. She is venerated at the sanctuary of Otuzco, a mountain village located 47 miles from Trujillo. Every January 15, the image is carried to the city's cathedral, where a procession brings together thousands of faithful and dancers. Among the latter are the “negritos of Otuzco,” who represent poor former workers descended from African slaves, who held great veneration for Our Lady, whom they believe freed them from their servitude.

Devotion to the Lord of Miracles (el Señor de los Milagros) is one of the most important devotions in Peru. It’s linked to an image of Christ crucified, painted by an Angolan slave on a wall in the Pachacamilla district in the 17th century.

In 1655, despite a violent earthquake, the wall with the image of Christ remained intact, which was seen as a miracle. Since then, the Christ of Pachacamilla has been venerated as the Lord of Miracles and the image is kept in the Sanctuary of the Nazarene in Lima. Every year in October, thousands of faithful dressed in purple walk in procession for the feast of the Lord of Miracles.

Particularly venerated in northern Peru, in the Piura region near the border with Ecuador, devotion to the Captive Lord of Ayabaca (el Señor Cautivo) dates back to a statue carved in the 17th century. It depicts Christ as a prisoner, his hands bound, during his arrest before his Passion. It’s kept in the shrine of Ayabaca, a small Andean village at an altitude of over 8,800 feet, which welcomes tens of thousands of faithful in October.

Finally, devotion to the Lord of Qoyllurit'i combines Christian spirituality and pre-Hispanic Andean traditions. It’s known for a spectacular pilgrimage that takes place 58 days after Easter over three days in the mountains of the Cuzco region, at an altitude of over 16,400 feet. In 2011, UNESCO added the Qoyllurit'i pilgrimage to its Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.

Qoyllurit'i means “Lord of the Shining Snow” in Quechua. When Catholicism adopted this ancestral tradition, it added an image of the crucified Christ, which is said to have miraculously appeared on a rock in the 18th century to a native child. Among the ancient traditions of the Andes, the pilgrimage includes processions of the cross of Christ.