By Natalie Taylor
San Miguel de Allende—city of both Saint Michael and of Allende. The first name is a mythical religious figure, the second is a man of flesh and blood. Ignacio Allende was the native son who led the insurgents in the War of Independence which began on September 15, 1810. Much has been told about Generalissimo Ignacio Allende, but who is Saint Michael, the patron saint of our city?
Saint Michael is one of the seven archangels venerated by Christians. The archangels are a grade above regular angels, part of a princely rank in the celestial court. Gabriel, Raphael, Uriel, Salathiel, Jehudiel, and Barachiel have equal ranking, but above them all stands Saint Michael, just one step below god. He is the chief of all angels, the warrior who led the heavenly armies to oust the rebellious angels, led by Lucifer.
He is also to appear at the final judgment to weigh souls, where those with greater sins tip the scales more than those who are pure. He then determines whether those departed will spend eternity up or down in the realm of Paradise.
The archangels’ names all end in El, which in Hebrew means “god.” But Saint Michael’s name is even more elevated, it is derived from Mi-ka-El, which means “he who is like god.”
In art he is most frequently depicted as a warrior, armed with helmet, sword, and shield. He holds the sword alight in his right hand, standing over a serpent, a dragon, or the squirming figure of Lucifer himself.
In San Miguel de Allende, the prostrate figure is most frequently a demon, although sometimes the vanquished enemy is a serpent, or many serpents.
This you find in the statue of Saint Michael in the niche at the corner of San Francisco and Nunez, where he stands on the heads of many snakes. Or sometimes, to highlight his role as the chief of all angels, he stands on the heads of cherubim, as in the niche at Insurgentes and Hernandez Macías. I invite you to check for yourself.
So now you know who Saint Michael is, but why is he the patron of our city? When our city was founded, the name was given by the Franciscan priest who himself had taken the name—Fray Juan de San Miguel.
He arrived in this area in 1542 and started a mission which he so named, and that name has remained to this day: first San Miguel, then San Miguel de los Chichimecas, then San Miguel el Grande, and finally in 1823 it received the end tag of “de Allende” to honor the leader of the War of Independence, native son, Ignacio Allende.
This year’s celebration of the feast of San Miguel—Saint Michael—will begin on the evening of September 27. People will gather before the Parroquia in order to celebrate the Alborada (dawn) with fireworks that start around 4am. It is a spectacle that is truly worth witnessing.
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