Faithful prepared to honor Gauchito Gil in Mercedes / Telam
A crowd of more than 300,000 faithful will gather today for the traditional festivity in honor of Gauchito Gil in the Corrientes town of Mercedes, 250 kilometers south of the provincial capital, where accommodation places are packed to commemorate the 145th anniversary of the death of Gauchito Gil. folk saint.
The constant arrival of buses with families and pilgrims in different types of vehicles are part of the postcard that has been repeated since December 24.
The red color, which identifies the Gauchito Gil and predominates in its sanctuaries, colors these days the geography of the place, with flags, candles and crosses that are replicated in the sanctuary located on National Route 123, as well as in the arms of the pilgrims and devotees.
Father Ramón Espinoza, from the Las Mercedes parish, pointed out that everything is ready in the “La Cruz Gil” property to settle and camp and added that there is “a space where people come to pray.”
Bishop Adolfo Canecín will officiate the central mass at 6 o’clock and then the riders will move the cross to the cemetery, where a response will be held at 10 o’clock, explained Espinoza, and announced that the monsignor “wrote a pastoral letter to share with the pilgrims and devotees”.
Espinoza affirmed that “as Father Julián Zini told us, Gauchito Gil is not a pagan saint, he is a good deceased.”
“Pope Francis told our bishop that the Catholic Church must care for and accompany the pilgrim,” the religious remarked, adding that it is about what we have always practiced “devotion to the deceased.”
Every January 8, and the days before and after, thousands of people, some after traveling hundreds or thousands of kilometers, arrive to “give thanks for some favor received, some miracle,” say the people of Mercedeños, witnesses of the pilgrimage of the faithful. “They ask and give thanks, authentically and with deep prayers,” Espinoza said.
The festivity in honor of the “miraculous gaucho” includes a program with various activities: the Evening of the Cross of Espinillo by Antonio Gil; a procession and mass in the Las Mercedes church and the service at his grave, in the local cemetery.
Due to the crowd that congregates on the national route 123 and access to the town of Mercedes, the Government of Corrientes announced an important security and traffic device that lasted from the first minute of today until the morning for which a route deviation, alternative roads and parking lots.
Last year some 300,000 faithful arrived in Mercedes to worship Gauchito Gil and the same number of people or even more is expected in this edition.
The veneration of the pagan saint, Antonio Plutarco Cruz Mamerto Gil Núñez, popularly called Gaucho or Gauchito Gil, was born after his death in 1878 after being awarded the miracle of saving the life of his executioner’s son, according to the story about the gaucho. miraculous.
About the life of Antonio Gil, it is said that he enlisted to fight in the War of the Triple Alliance (1864-1870) and after returning he was recruited by the Autonomist Party to fight in the Corrientes civil war against the opposition Liberal Party, but he deserted. .
Since desertion was a crime, he was captured, hung by his foot on a thorn tree, and had his throat cut. Before being executed, Gil told his executioner that he should pray on Gil’s behalf for the life of his son, who was very ill. Upon returning home, the executioner found his son almost dying, desperate, he prayed to Gil and his son miraculously healed.
In the place where he was assassinated nine kilometers from Mercedes, a sanctuary was built, where every January 8 they come to venerate him.
The veneration of Gauchito Gil was born after his death, after being awarded a miracle
