Dr. William Calvo-Quiros's book, Undocumented Saints: The Politics of Migrating Devotions (Oxford University Press), has won the 2023 Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize of the American Society of Church History.

The Frank S. and Elizabeth D. Brewer Prize annually honors outstanding scholarship in the history of Christianity by a first-time author.

From the award committee: "William A. Calvo-Quiros’s Undocumented Saints is a deserving winner of the 2023 Brewer award with its sweeping scope, engaging prose, and innovation in research. Calvo-Quiros employs creative ethnographic and archival methods towards his subjectmatter: vernacular saints, local religious traditions, and a rich variety of religiousexperiences on the undocumented migrant journey. The author unpacks the“indisputable diversity” within Roman Catholicism, asserting the myriad ways toassimilate the faith, including folk heroes, homemade altars, and subversive interpretations such as La Santa Muerte. Calvo-Quiros visits these often-quiet places, listens to local stories surrounding the “undocumented saints,” and tries to understand how they interlock—and often conflict—with more official expressions of the Catholic faith. Exploring such issues as gender, race, sexual abuse, and power, Calvo-Quiros’s critiques of the church are frequent and sometimes trenchant. The book raises important questions about the relation of the Roman Catholic Church to its people in Mexico and the American Southwest. It is an inspiring story of “community agency andresiliency” within those who consider themselves Catholic, but often find their beliefs and praxis outside the mainstream."

Congatulations, William!