SANTOS SUFFERED ABANDOMENT WHEN MEXICAN AMERICAN CATHOLICS for one reason or another left the church, their santos suffered abandonment. When family members changed Christian denomination from Catholicism to Protestantism, the saints--retablos and bultos--, disappeared from the home setting. Santos were given away, boxed, or at worst thrown away. Sally Holguin, who collected saints and had them placed in every room in her house, was given a Santo Nino de Atocha by an older lady friend named Ramona. "By its looks, the Santo Nino must have been in the family for many years, Pan bendito que ya se hizopierda, "("The blessed bread in the Saint's little basket by then had become like rock"), said Holguin. Ramona's children changed religion. She was going to visit her children for sometime, and thus she gave away her Santo Nino which had been with her since she had made her first communion.
San Vicente Serrer Dominican saint from Philippines, circa 1870. Has painted tin wings. Height: 15 inches. Owner: Jorge Eagar, Phoenic, Arizona