As soon as the Spaniards secured Tenochtitlan in 1521 Cortes began sending emissaries to surrounding kingdoms with a view to imperialistic expansion. Pedro de Alvarado was dispatched to Guatemala and conquered the area under the control of the Quiché Mayas in 1523–1524. (Areas under other tribes not so readily overcome were subdued over succeeding years.) It was likely Franciscan friars accompanied the troops and created a Calvary (a cross planted on a small hill in memory of Christ’s crucifixion) upon their arrival. It was apparently at this site that the Cult of Esquipulas was first introduced, since the village already bore his name when on 29 August 1594, a contract was drawn up between the vicar-general of the bishopric, Christoval Morales, and journeyman sculptor Quirio Cataño to carve a crucifix of Esquipulas for the town. Cataño was a criollo, born in the capital of Antigua, the son of immigrants from Iberia—Portuguese, according to some accounts. The contract called for an image of a vara y media between 3 and 4 feet in height to be carved of cedar and painted with a dark complexion. For the work, which was to be finished in time for the Feast of San Francisco, the sculptor was to be paid 100 “tostones de cuatro reales de plata cada uno.” The statue was finished on 9 March 1595 and installed in a chapel near health-restoring springs. In time an elaborate baroque basilica (finished in 1758) replaced the modest chapel. The Cult of Esquipulas is an old devotion to a Christ of Healing appropriate to soldiers constantly exposed to a life of expectable wounds and death. He was represented as a black-visaged, crucified Jesus, usually on a green-sprouting cross symbolic of his resurrection and his sanctuaries were often founded at mineral springs. As word spread of the miraculous cures performed by the image the cult was adopted throughout Latin America. It eventually appeared as far north as Arizona and New Mexico. An official 1843 report noted a statue of Our Lord of Esquipulas that

中文翻译：

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黑人处女、黑人基督和埃斯基普拉斯崇拜

1521 年西班牙人一占领特诺奇蒂特兰，科尔特斯就开始向周边王国派遣使者，以期进行帝国主义扩张。佩德罗·德·阿尔瓦拉多 (Pedro de Alvarado) 被派往危地马拉，并于 1523 年至 1524 年征服了基切玛雅人控制下的地区。（其他部落下的地区在接下来的几年中不太容易被征服。）很可能是方济各会的修士在他们到达时伴随着军队并创建了一个髑髅地（一个在小山上种植的十字架，以纪念基督被钉十字架）。显然，埃斯基普拉斯崇拜是在这个地方首次引入的，因为在 1594 年 8 月 29 日，该村庄已经以他的名字命名，主教区的牧师克里斯托瓦尔·莫拉莱斯 (Christoval Morales) 和熟练的雕塑家奎里奥·卡塔尼奥 (Quirio Cataño) 签订了合同为小镇雕刻埃斯基普拉斯的十字架。据一些记载，卡塔尼奥是一名克里奥罗人，出生在安提瓜首都，是来自伊比利亚-葡萄牙移民的儿子。合同要求用雪松雕刻一个高度在 3 到 4 英尺之间的各种媒体图像，并涂上深色。对于这件将在旧金山盛宴前完成的工作，雕塑家将获得 100 块“tostones de cuatro reales de plata cada uno”。这座雕像于 1595 年 3 月 9 日完工，并安装在恢复健康的泉水附近的小教堂中。随着时间的推移，一座精致的巴洛克式大教堂（于 1758 年完工）取代了朴素的小教堂。埃斯基普拉斯的崇拜是对治愈基督的古老奉献，适用于经常暴露在可预期的伤口和死亡中的士兵。他被描绘成一个黑脸的，被钉在十字架上的耶稣，通常在象征他复活的绿色发芽的十字架上，他的庇护所通常建在矿泉中。随着图像所进行的神奇治疗的传播，整个拉丁美洲都采用了这种邪教。它最终出现在最北的亚利桑那州和新墨西哥州。1843 年的一份官方报告指出，我们的埃斯基普拉斯勋爵雕像