By Gustavo Arellano
My wife is not a person of faith, but she nevertheless respects the devotion to saints we Catholics maintain. That’s why when she opened Alta Baja Market, a restaurant in Santa Ana, California, Delilah (don’t hold the name against her) made sure to fill it with them.
Votive candles warm tables during the winter. A mural of St Anne embracing the Virgin Mary as a child looks over customers eating. Small devotional cards behind the register feature the Santo Niño de Atocha, the Virgen de Guadalupe and St Martin of Tours, the first two apparitions are favorites among all Mexicans, while business owners favor the latter saint, known in Mexico as San Martin Caballero.
Alta Baja Market specializes in foods and products of the American Southwest, so we’ve picked up other saints in our travels across the region over the years. They include a wooden St Francis of Assisi and a New Mexico-style tin retablo of San Pascual, the patron saint of cooks. But our favorite find was a foot-tall ceramic statue of the Virgin Mary that we bought in Las Cruces.
It was a manifestation of the Miraculous Medal. Mary slightly smiles as she stands on a large green snake with an apple in its mouth. Her hands are stretched out in love, and her cloak is imperial blue. The medal’s traditional backside 12 stars, two hearts, and a crossbar and cross over the letter M sits by Her feet.
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