Case file · Apparition / miracle
Gauchito Gil
Antonio Mamerto Gil, a gaucho deserter, was executed near Mercedes, Corrientes, on 8 January 1878; the legend says he told his executioner his son would be cured if he prayed to him, and he was.
1878 CE · -29.20, -58.03 · status: legend
The account
Red-flagged roadside shrines to the Gauchito line Argentina's highways, and every 8 January hundreds of thousands of people visit his sanctuary near Mercedes. He is a folk saint, not recognised by the Catholic Church.
The sceptical view
Little about Gil's life can be documented; the miracles are folk tradition.