Cerocahui is a town in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, located in the Sierra Tarahumara, in the municipality of Urique, it is internationally recognized for being one of the main places of Holy Week festivities of the Tarahumara ethnic groups.

The area where Cerocahui is today was inhabited by the Tarahumara from times before the arrival of the Spanish, in 1679 the first Jesuit missionary who traveled the region, Fernando Pécoro, arrived at this point, who lasted a short time in the place before the resistance of the Tarahumara to be evangelized as the religious intended. A year later, the renowned evangelizer Juan María de Salvatierra arrived at the same place, Father Salvatierra was more successful than his predecessor, and on November 23 of that year he officially founded the mission in which he would remain for 10 years, Salvatierra achieved numerous conversions to Christianity, as well as the construction of the first church in Cerocahui, after his stay in the Sierra Tarahumara he was transferred to the Mission of Nuestra Señora de Loreto, in the Baja California Peninsula. The presence of the Jesuits continued until the year 1767, when King Carlos III of Spain ordered their expulsion from all his dominions, the mission of Cerocahui being closed.

The population was inhabited only by Tarahumara, until the year 1939 when the Jesuits returned to their old missions, Father Andrés Lara arrived in charge of Cerocahui, who found the church built by Juan María de Salvatierra turned into ruins, Father Lara was owes him the development of Cerocahui as a center of missionary activity in the region of the sierra, among his first works was the reconstruction of the church, completed in 1941, Father Lara founded the boarding school, Tewecado Santa María Guadalupe, for the Tarahumara Indians, which continues in operation today. The school burned down in 1957 and was rebuilt in 1963, on land donated by Don Enrique Villalobos Zamorano, a wealthy landowner in the region. As well as the construction of the road that connects Cerocahui with Bahuichivo, the Chihuahua al Pacífico Railway station, located about 13 kilometers away. (From Wikipedia)

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