BY ERICO VEGA
Plotted With thank you plaques that cover the deterioration of its walls and faithfully renewed flowers on the iron door, this pantheon is the most colorful space in the capital’s necropolis. But who was Rafael Mansilla? Why this veneration? History holds certain mysteries that only faith seems capable of sustaining.
Upon entering the cemetery through the main street, lavish pantheons, delicate sculptures and carved bronze gates stand before the view of any walker.
But the other senses also interfere with a respectful silence, the slow walk of visitors through its corridors, the unmistakable perfume of flowers and the mysterious halo that surrounds every cemetery. On one of its side streets you arrive, perhaps, at the biggest enigma: the “miraculous pantheon” of Rafael Mansilla.
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It is said that Rafael Mansilla was a prosecutor who had a generous heart towards those most in need.
Maiquel Torcatt / Aire Digital
It is said that Rafael Mansilla was a prosecutor who had a generous heart towards those most in need and it is believed that between the 1950s and 1960s this pantheon began to be venerated due to a paranormal event.
Of everything that is said and believed, there is one surpassing reality: The thousands of people left (and leave) a record of their gratitude through the plaques, showing that a certain request was fulfilled.
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Some of the thanks that show a certain request fulfilled.
Maiquel Torcatt / Aire Digital
“My grandfather told me the story that was passed from generation to generation. He had made a promise to take care of the pantheon and when he died I decided to continue that tradition. And since then, many people who approached added more arguments to the story: he was a prosecutor but at the same time he helped those most in need with illnesses with homemade recipes,” says Daniel Torres, a faithful man from Mansilla who passes by the pantheon to keep it clean and orderly.
“The day they buried him, lightning struck the pantheon and a light remained on. for a time that generated people’s devotion ever since,” he added.
For the director of the municipal cemetery, Luz Balbastro, also has to do with the need to believe and the belief system of the people of Santa Fe. “It is a permanent path of promising the pantheon. Every day you have a new flower, a new letter. The cemetery is a space of memory and this pantheon is fully valid, it is part of one of the attractions of the guided tours that are carried out,” says the director.
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Luz Balbastro, director of the municipal cemetery.
Maiquel Torcatt / Aire Digital
In the past, this pantheon had a chapel in the basement and its followers came there to pray, ask and give thanks. It was there that people began to color this building with thank you badges.
Over time, it was restructured: the underground was blocked and its space was reduced. In municipal ordinance No. 10282, the successors of Rafael Mansilla “They transferred in perpetuity the fraction of land corresponding to the pantheon, the municipality forgave the debts and made it available to give it whatever use it deemed most convenient.”
What was generated with the figure of Masilla was so great that the descendants were always reluctant to speak. Perhaps, not because they do not believe in the miraculous powers of their ancestor, but because they had (or have) the fear that their homes would become spontaneous sanctuaries.
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People colored this building with tokens of gratitude.
Maiquel Torcatt / Aire Digital
In 2019, in a valuable interview, AIR He managed to speak with a relative from Mansilla who contributed the little she knew empirically about him. It was also difficult for his family to reconstruct his story.
In the search for more data that allows us to delve deeper into this story, there is one that stands out: Mansilla’s remains are not in the pantheon.
So, for unbelievers, this can be confirmation of an irrational devotion or the most reliable proof of a disappointment.
However, that information is not important for those who revere Rafael Mansilla. Well, faith is almost always moved by reasons so intimate that it makes any challenge unobjectionable. And the story of this faceless Saint goes that way. Without a doubt.
