The VCU College of Humanities & Sciences School of World Studies presents the Spring 2012 Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies Lecture Series.

R. Andrew Chesnut, Ph.D., will present "Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint."

Professor Chesnut is an internationally recognized expert on Christianity in Latin America. He is author of Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty (Rutgers University Press, 1997) and Competitive Spirits: Latin Americaʹs New Religious Economy (Oxford University Press, 2003 and 2007). His latest book, Devoted to Death (Oxford University Press, 2011), offers a fascinating portrayal of Santa Muerte, a Mexican folk saint whose cult has attracted millions of devotees in both Mexico and the U.S. over the past decade. In particular, Dr. Chesnut shows Santa Muerte has become the patron saint of drug traffickers, playing an important role as protector of peddlers of crystal meth and marijuana. Chesnut is the Bishop Walter F. Sullivan Chair in Catholic Studies and a professor of religious studies at VCU.

This event is free and open to the public.

Parking available, for a fee, on first come‐first served basis in VCU’s Main Street Deck (corner of Laurel & Main Streets).

For more information, please visit www.worldstudies.vcu.edu .