As can be seen, aside from the daily celebration of the mass, the procession was the public ritual form that most defined colonial Mexican Catholicism. In the aforementioned cases, processions were part and parcel of the celebration of honoring the saints. However, processions of the faithful also sought divine intervention at the parish or community level to prevent or assuage some calamity, usually a natural disaster such as drought, flood, pestilence, or an epidemic. Participants solemnly renounced their sins, prayed as they walked, and sought to impress their suffering and piety to the saint and to God. The primary images to receive such supplication were manifestations of Mary, such as the Virgin of Guadalupe or Remedies. Through the procession, residents sought to form a spiritual contract with the saint or the Virgin. Their ritual act, completed with true heartfelt remorse, would gain the understanding and assistance of the saint. Processions of flagellants, both European and Indian, formed parts of these larger processions. These participants actively demonstrated their suffering and devotion through their selfinflicted pain. This was done for themselves and on the community's behalf. Spectators were not there merely to watch the procession but were expected to pray and review their own conduct. It was believed that all members of society had to repudiate sin and repent in order to bring about the miracle so needed by the village. The procession also was accompanied by novenas, nine days of masses and prayers. Individuals also actively sought the aid of saints, Jesus, and the Virgin Mary, particularly for miraculous cures from injury and illness. Many images, in village and city alike, were purported to be miracle workers. Supplicants made a formal vow that if their prayers were answered, they would perform some designated act or service that could range from the building of a new chapel for the image to aid for the sick and poor to sweeping the chapel each day for a year. Shrines dotted the Mexican colonial landscape, and many vows included pilgrimages to Our Lady of Guadalupe or Our Lord of Chalma. Later, individuals commissioned local artists to depict the miracle performed, which depictions they hung on the walls of chapel or shrine entrances. Small images of legs, arms, hands, hearts, or other items represented literal body parts that the faithful wished to have mended through the saint's intervention. These silver items were pinned directly onto the image's garment or onto nearby pillows or cloth. Thus, rituals became one of the most profound mediums, along with prayer, for discussion and interaction with the divine. Individuals sought divine intervention and expected to see it on a regular basis.