FALFURRIAS, Texas (AP) - Authorities are searching for vandals who damaged a south Texas shrine to faith healer Don Pedrito Jaramillo.
The damage to the shrine to Don Pedrito Jaramillo in Falfurrias, about 150 miles (241 kilometers) south of San Antonio was reported Friday, according to Brooks County Sheriff Urbino “Benny” Martinez.
“We’re really working hard on it because I think it’s really unfortunate that that would happen to Don Pedrito,” Martinez said. “It’s been there for years and years.
“Right now we’re all in the dark as far as the motive,” Martinez told the San Antonio Express-News.
Jaramillo was known as “the healer of Los Olmos,” for using natural remedies to heal the sick.
He came to the Los Olmos Ranch near Falfurrias in the early 1880s and died in 1907. The shrine began at his burial site and received a Texas Historical Marker in 1971.
Falfurrias City Administrator Melissa Landin said damage to crosses and statues of Jaramillo may be irreparable.
“The cross with Jesus, a large one that was on the wall, was on the floor broken in pieces. The Virgin Mary was broken into pieces. Two statues of Don Pedro were shattered,” Landin told The Monitor.
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