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Santo: A Popular Boys' Name in Italy and Spain



Santo, translated literally from Spanish, means saint, although this collection also features other Roman Catholic holy persons and devotional objects. Santos generally are in the form of retablos, or paintings on wood panels, or bultos, which are sculptural carvings in the round. A distinctive santo style developed in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado in the 18th and 19th centuries. Using materials at hand, such as pine and cottonwood, and creating pigments from natural materials, santeros (saint-makers) made objects for use in religious observances as well as for home devotions. Some santeros were itinerant and created santos on commission. Santos were prayed to for particular reasons according to their individual powers, but also as intercessors, or go-betweens, to God. For example, Santa Bárbara might be prayed to for protection against fire; San Isidro Labrador might offer special protection against drought or other problems facing farmers.




Santo




For more information on santos and the Regis collection, see: Steele, Thomas J., Barbe Awalt and Paul Rhetts, The Regis Santos: Thirty Years of Collecting 1966-1996 (Albuquerque: LPD Press, 1997); and Steele, Thomas J., Santos and Saints: The Religious Folk Art of Hispanic New Mexico (Santa Fe, N.M., Ancient City Press, 1994).


santo (feminine santa, masculine plural santos, feminine plural santas, comparable, comparative mais santo, superlative o mais santo or santíssimo) 2ff7e9595c


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