Readers of this appendix may be surprised to find so many colonial-era shrines and miraculous images listed; 498 in all: 238 sited images of Christ or the cross; 240 sited images of the Virgin Mary; and 20 sited images of other saints. By any reckoning, since the mid-seventeenth century there have always been many shrines and images that enjoyed more than neighborhood fame, but, as I suggest below, this is not a fixed and finished count. The more localized shrines and miraculous images are elusive in the written record, and some that are better documented were not necessarily more popular than others that are not. Most are little known because they were not heavily promoted beyond the parish (which Spanish visitors sometimes noted could be as large as an Iberian diocese), and they might attract more distant devotees only once or twice a year or during a time of crisis. While the territorial reach and number of devotees of many colonial shrines over time remains uncertain and may have fluctuated considerably, their longevity compared to shrines in various parts of Europe has been remarkable.

Even though colonial references to shrines may seem straightforward, and many have a continuous history since the seventeenth century, they are moving targets rather than unchanging monuments of faith. Beyond the fifty-eight starred (*) shrines and images on this list that enjoyed documented fame well beyond their immediate vicinity, usually over many years, there are bound to be questions about why some particular places are included in or excluded from this list. And there are distortions of commission as well as omission in the record. For larger cities, especially Mexico City, Puebla, Guadalajara, and Querétaro, every possible image shrine is likely to be recorded and extolled in some fashion by local chroniclers and promoters. And some modern Mexican states are unusually well served by histories of the Church and religious life, especially Jalisco, Querétaro, and Puebla. Their colonial shrines were well known, if not necessarily more popular than shrines in other places, and there is probably a tendency in these sources to exaggerate their appeal beyond the local.