The shrine of the Talking Cross
Its origin, its social import, its significance and its history all make the parish church of the Holy Cross in the town now called Felipe Carrillo Puerto an exceptional monument.
A holy place and the sanctuary of the Talking Cross, the church served as refuge and inspiration to Maya of the south and east of the Peninsula during their rebellion against the “Whites”. The conflict, known as the Caste War, cost nearly a quarter of a million lives between 1847 and 1901.
The cruzo’ob (a name adopted by the Maya insurgents) began work on the church in 1858, when the recently-founded town of Noh Cah Santa Cruz Balam Nah Kampokolché (also known as Chan Santa Cruz), today Felipe Carrillo Puerto, was the “capital” of the rebel territory.
When designing the layout, its builders followed the plan of religious buildings of the colonial period in the Peninsula. So, we can see a rectangular nave covered with a vault, and a very austere façade. On each side of the church, which was erected as a sanctuary for the Talking Cross, a series of one-story rooms were built, with arches in the front and back sections that served as schools and barracks
The Mayas originally called the church, standing in the heart of the village, Xbalam Nah. Construction was completed in 1864, during the administration of the indigenous leader Bernardino Cen, and it had four bells which the rebels took from the church in Bacalar during one of their raids.
One of the most notable features of Noh Cah Santa Cruz Balam Nah (in English “Great village of the Holy Cross House of the Jaguar”) was the development of a new religion, known as the Cult of the Talking Cross, which was a syncretic mix of Catholicism and indigenous Mayan beliefs and traditions.
The so-called Talking Cross was not only a supreme sacred symbol, but also a leader of society and even a military commander, so that it could be said that Chan Santa Cruz was a theocratic state. As there were no Catholic priests serving the region, the cult was led by men called “master singers” or “interpreters of the cross” who spoke for it, and received their authority directly from God.
On the 3rd May 1901, the holy town of the Mayan rebels was taken and occupied by forces of the Federal army, commanded by general Ignacio Bravo. The soldiers used the church as a stable, jail, brothel, pigsty and garbage dump.
That same year, the town was renamed as Santa Cruz de Bravo, and became the official capital of the Quintana Roo territory for 20 years. Then it was returned to the Maya, and the administration moved to Payo Obispo, now called Chetumal.
In 1930 it was given its present name, in honor of the socialist governor of Yucatan, Felipe Carrillo Puerto.
The Maya never reoccupied the church of the Holy Cross, even when the government returned it to them in 1915, because they felt that the sacred place housing the Most Holy Cross had been defiled.
In the 1960s, the building was rescued and occupied by the Maryknoll Missionaries, and today it belongs to the Legionaries of Christ.
Felipe Carrillo Puerto is located in the center of Quintana Roo, 298 km (185 miles) southeast of Merida, 159 km (99 miles) from Chetumal, and 229 km (142 miles) from Cancun.
Location