Home›Sources›Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintSourcesDevoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintCitation FormatsGeneral ReferenceGeneral Reference Citation TextDivinity Atlas. "Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint." Accessed August 30, 2026. https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/devoted-to-death-santa-muerte-the-skeleton-saint.Copy General ReferenceAPA StyleAPA Style Citation TextDivinity Atlas. (n.d.). Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint. Retrieved August 30, 2026, from https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/devoted-to-death-santa-muerte-the-skeleton-saintCopy APA StyleBibTeXBibTeX Citation Text@misc{divinityatlas-devoted-to-death-santa-muerte-the-skelet, author = {Divinity Atlas}, title = {Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint}, year = {2026}, url = {https://divinity.interactivelion.com/sources/devoted-to-death-santa-muerte-the-skeleton-saint}, note = {Accessed August 30, 2026} }Copy BibTeXR. Andrew Chesnut is a scholar of Latin American religion, and this Oxford University Press book is his scholarly study of the cult of Santa Muerte, the folk saint of death venerated across Mexico and increasingly in the United States. Its strength is that Chesnut conducted direct fieldwork among devotees and situates the cult's rapid recent growth within Mexico's social and economic conditions, making the book the standard academic reference on the subject. Its limit is that Santa Muerte devotion continues to change quickly, so a claim about the cult's most current scale or practice should be checked against more recent reporting or scholarship alongside this still standard 2012 study.FactsCross-Tradition ConnectionsClaims Backed By This Source (37 claims)Comments (0)Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)FactsAssessmentReliability TierWell-attested1Published by Oxford University Press as R. Andrew Chesnut's scholarly study of Santa Muerte devotion grounded in direct fieldwork, peer reviewed university press scholarship.NotesWell-attestedScholarly study of the cult of Santa Muerte, the folk saint of death.CitationAuthorWell-attestedR. Andrew ChesnutPublisherWell-attestedOxford University PressPublication YearWell-attested2012Source TypeWell-attestedacademic monographCross-Tradition ConnectionsAssociated WithMexico, Countries Well-attested This source names Mexico directly: "folk saint of death venerated across Mexico and increasingly in the United States."Source Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintR. Andrew Chesnuttier 1Santa Muerte, Deities Well-attested This source names Santa Muerte directly: "is his scholarly study of the cult of Santa Muerte, the folk saint of death venerated across Mexico and increasingly in the United States."Source Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintR. Andrew Chesnuttier 1Claims Backed By This Source (37 claims)This source backs 37 claims across the atlas. As facts: 30 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate. As cited relationships: 2 holds. Plus 2 entities citing it as a general reference with no single fact or relationship attached.Disposition By TopicDeities, 24 claims: 19 well-attested, 3 scholarly debate, 2 general references.Sources, 9 claims: 7 well-attested, 2 holds.Articles, 4 claims: 4 well-attested.Well-attested30ArticlesA Bandit Without a Birth CertificateDevotional Practice: Altars, Colors and PetitionsHistory, Growth and the Church's ResponseTwo Saints the Church Never MadeDeitiesJesus MalverdeSanta MuerteSourcesDevoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintScholarly debate3DeitiesJesus MalverdeSanta MuerteHolds2SourcesDevoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton SaintGeneral References2DeitiesJesus MalverdeSanta MuerteComments (0)No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.Sign in to join the discussion.Reader Challenges (0 open reader challenges)No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.Sign in to dispute this or suggest a correction.View At A Past YearThe atlas records no dated fact of its own for this entry, so there is no other year to choose.Show This Year