"Detente bala" is an
inscription used by
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
soldiers from the 18th century.
The phrase ''detente bala'' means "stop, bullet" in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
. The whole motto is usually written ''Detente bala, el Corazon de Jesús está conmigo!'' meaning: "Stop, bullet, Jesus Christ Sacred Heart is with me (or protects me)!"
Patches of cloth with the phrase around a
Sacred Heart of Jesus
The Most Sacred Heart of Jesus ( la, Cor Jesu Sacratissimum) is one of the most widely practised and well-known Catholic devotions, wherein the heart of Jesus is viewed as a symbol of "God's boundless and passionate love for mankind". This devo ...
were worn on the chest as
a protection and later as a piece of cloth under the name\rank badge (usually as close to the heart as possible).
The devotion is derived by the
badges of the Sacred Heart promoted by 17th-century saint
Margaret Mary Alacoque against epidemics.
They are still used by the Spanish soldiers in the 21st century.
The history of the use of the "Detente bala" dates back to 1686. Popular belief explains that saint
Margaret Mary Alacoque started the custom of wearing a small cloth emblem with the image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus as a symbol of devotion. This symbol soon began to spread as a protection "amulet" against the epidemics that devastated Europe with the name of "Safeguard" initially and "stop" with the passage of time. It is from the eighteenth century when its use became popular among Spanish soldiers. Tradition has it that the "Detente bala" were embroidered by hand by the wives, mothers or sisters of the combatants before they left for the war, in the hope that they would stop the bullets that threatened their lives and return them safe and sound to their homes.
References
*
Detente' in the ''Diccionario de la
Real Academia Española.
Mottos
Spanish words and phrases
Christian symbols
Spanish Civil War
Amulets
Sacred Heart devotions
{{SpanishCivilWar-stub