Yvonne V. speaking:

I am going to give you an image of San Judas that was given to me something like 5 years ago, and since then it has been attached to my camera bag. It is special for me because it goes back at the moment when I started to find out about San Judas and I was working on a movie that I really enjoyed. A friend of mine gave it to me.

Basically, San Judas is a saint that betrayed Jesus. He wasn’t a saint then, but now he is. I am not sure in other countries, but in our country it is known as the patron saint of desperate cases and lost causes. He helps when there is no more hope but it is also the saint that helps you in your work, so that was more suitable for me. Fortunately, I have never been in the desperate state in my life. I am not a very religious person, I grew up in a religious school, but the truth is that I am not catholic.
I started to believe in San Judas because I realized that some things have happened because of him. I started to give his image as a gift. I got the habit to give scapular and things like that. A part of the promise that you do to San Judas when he helps you is to promote him. You are going to tell people about him. In my opinion, it means that he is a little vain, but that’s ok.

A lot of people to whom I gave a scapular are scared of the power it can have. A friend of mine told me once: “It’s better if I leave it sometimes, so that it doesn’t go well all the time”.

I believe very strongly in him and it’s very special for me because there have been a lot of moments in my life when he was with me. Right now, for instance, I am in an important transition moment, I just arrived to live in this city, and obviously I am thinking a lot about him because my work is what worries me the most when I go live somewhere else. Basically, this is it.

 

 

 

 

How it started:

When we were working at the frontier between Mexico and the US, we were taking photos there for the movie. There was one of the man who was selling at the border. I had bought a San Judas. Since I was just starting to play with the idea of San Judas, I wasn’t devoted or anything, but I bought an image that I was carrying attached to my cell phone. One of the men that were selling in the line was talking with me. He was kind of crazy, because often the people that work at the border are ex-prisoners or ex-junkies.

In this line cars are waiting to cross the border to the United States. There are all kinds of characters there. And this guy was kind of intense. He was on drugs, or  he was an ex-drug addict, but he brought an energy of madness. When he saw that I was carrying an image of San Judas on my cell phone, he told me: “What a beautiful image, you must give it to me as a present!”. And I said: “I have to give it to you, why?”. And he told me: “You must know that San Judas, if you are devoted to him, gains in power if you give him as a gift to someone. If I give you the image of San Judas, it has more power than if you buy it. If you give me your image, San Judas will help you more.” It sounded like he wanted to trick me because I thought he only wanted to get away with my image of San Judas.  But in the end, I gave it to him. I asked him his name and he said he was called Luis Alberto. At this time, I had a boyfriend who was called Luis Alberto. It was like a signal for me, so I gave the image to this guy.

And I started to do this, give away images and to receive images as present. And it’s true, when you talk to people and they tell you that they have work and they have a hard time with it, the way you can help them is to wish them good luck and tell them about it, but another way is to give them a scapular. So, often I carry scapulars in my wallet to give away. And it is how it started.