This is a hand painted statuette of the popular Mexican Folk Saint Niño Cieguito, or Holy Blind Child. You see his likeness in churches and shines all over Mexico, his empty eye sockets evocatively dripping blood. He holds a cross and, often, a pair of glass eyes on a platter.

The original, miraculous statue of Santo Niño Cieguito can be found, flanked by angels, in a small shrine at Puebla, Mexico''s Capuchin convent. His story traces back to 18th century Morelia, Mexico, when a thief or a heretic (depending on the version or the story) desecrated a statue of the Niño Dios, or the holy infant Jesus. The Niño Dios (literally Child God) are an important part of everyday life in Mexico. Many people keep one at home, and they are dressed up in new outfits and brought to church to be blessed every year on Día de la Candeleria.

Santo Niño Cieguito started his life as an ordinary Niño Dios (albeit one with emerald eyes) in the arms of a statue of the Virgen las Misericordias (Virgin of Mercy) at a convent of the same name in Valladolid, Morelia. On August 10, 1744, a man attended mass and hid in the church after it closed in order to rob it. Around midnight, he began his work. But when he approached the statue of Mary to steal her jewelry, "the evildoer heard deep in his conscience the cry of a child that seemed to come from the image of the child Jesus."

The man covered the child's mouth to stop its cries but, still feeling its gaze, he threw it into his sack. He fled to a mountain hideaway, but the child continued to cry. When he tried to remove the Niño's emerald eyes, it shed tears of blood.

When the church fathers realized the robbery had taken place, they called the authorities, who were able to track down the thief and recover the stolen goods. The perpetrator made a full confession, and reported the miracle he had witnessed. When the Niño was returned to the temple, the father superior sent him to the Capuchin Convent in Puebla for restoration and protection.

The abbess of this convent decided not to replace the eyes, but to leave his eye sockets empty in respect for the miracle of the crying of the blood. The statue was given the name Santo Niño Cieguito, The Holy Blind Child, and adorned with the symbols of the passion of Christ, hair, a crown of thorns, a cross, and a tray with two eyes commemorating his desecration and the outrages to which he had been subjected.This replica is hand painted. “The Blind Boy” holds in his left hand a paddle on which his eyes are displayed in memory of the crime committed nearly three centuries ago and a reminder of the miracle.

Measures as: 4” x 2” x 2”