DUANE
Duane's take
Here's my telling of what the official marker has to say about Don Pedro Jaramillo, out in Brooks County. Now, there are healers, and then there are healers — and then there's the man they called El Curandero de los Olmos. The Healer of Los Olmos.
Don Pedro Jaramillo. He was born in Jalisco, Mexico, in 1829. And the story of how he came to his calling — well, the marker puts it carefully, the way you do when you're talking about something that doesn't yield to easy explanation.
He is said to have been cured himself, through faith. And then, in a vision, he received the gift of healing. Not claimed it.
Received it. There's a difference, and Don Pedro knew that difference better than most. In 1881, he came to Los Olmos Ranch.
And the word spread the way word always spreads in a wide, quiet country — person to person, story to story, until people were traveling from all over just to find him. Here's what set him apart, though. Other faith healers of his day claimed power of their own.
Don Pedro wouldn't hear of it. He said plainly that God's healing was released through faith — not through him, not through anything he possessed. He was just the place where that faith had somewhere to go.
And he made no charges. Not a one. Patients gave what they chose to give, or they gave nothing at all, and Don Pedro did not distinguish between them.
Whatever came to him voluntarily, he often turned right around and gave to the poor — food as well as remedies. The man lived in that current and didn't step out of it. He traveled widely, going out to visit the sick when they couldn't come to him.
Hundreds — hundreds — gave testimonials of their healings. Don Pedro Jaramillo died in 1907. The marker doesn't editorialize.
It doesn't have to. Hundreds of voices already said what needed saying.
What the marker says
(1829-1907) Called "The Healer of Los Olmos". Born in Jalisco, Mexico. Said to have been cured through faith, then given the gift of healing in a vision. He came to Los Olmos Ranch in 1881. Many came to him because, unlike other faith healers, he claimed no power of his own, but said that God's healing was released through faith. He made no charges. Patients gave or withheld as they chose. But whatever was given voluntarily he often gave to the poor-- food as well as remedies. He traveled widely to visit the sick. Hundreds gave testimonials of their healings. --------------------------------------------------------- Llamado "El Curandero de los Olmos". Nacio en Jalisco, Mexico. Se dice que fue curado por la fe, despues recibio el don de curar en una vision. Vino al Ranch de los Olmos en 1881. Muchos venian a el porque, no como otros curanderos, el no reclamaba su propio poder sino decia que el curamiento de Dios era obtenido por la fe. No cobraba. Los pacientes pagaban si querian. Pero lo que se la daba voluntariamente, acostumbraba darselo a los pobres--comida tanto como remedios. Viajo extensivamente visitando a los enfermos. Cientos han dado testimonios de sus curamientos. (1971)