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El arte de la resurrección
The “Christ of Elqui” arrived at the mining offices of Los dones with his long black hair and Biblical prophet’s beard. This time he had come not just to evangelize, to preach his sermons for the good of humanity, but with a mission, too. In the mining town of Providencia, commonly known as La piojo (the louse) due to its poverty, lives the woman who was meant to be his disciple, Magdalena Mercado, his own Mary Magdalene. He was not yet 10 when he began to preach sermons to his friends. ‘This child will be a saviour’, prophesized the midwife of his native village. Years later, after the death of his beloved mother, he abandoned it all and lived as a recluse for years, in a state of privation, in the Valley of Elqui. It was during this period as a hermit that he had his spiritual visions: he was the re-incarnation of Jesus Christ and must go into the world to preach the gospel.