By Tere Ruiz
Every year on December 12 Mexico celebrates our Lady of Guadalupe (Virgin of Guadalupe), our adored Merciful Mother who protects all the Mexicans and devoted people through out the world.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, the manifestation of the Virgin Mary in Mexico, is a symbol of significant importance for the Mexicans and to the Catholics throughout America. It is said that the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the second most visited Roman Catholic shrine in the world.
History tells us that in 1531 when the missionaries were evangelizing the population of indigenous people in Mexico, Juan Diego, a good man of the lower class, while walking in the hill of Tepeyac, heard the most beautiful singing of birds and then saw a vision of a beautiful lady surrounded by light who told him in Nahuatl (language spoke by the Aztecs), that she was the Virgin Mary, the mother of Jesus and that she wished to have a shrine built in that place, to be able to give all her motherly love and protection to him, to all the people who lived in the area and to all the people who were devoted to her. She asked him to go to the Spanish bishop, Fray Juan de Zumárraga and tell him her request and all he had seen.
Juan Diego faithfully went to the bishop and, obviously, the bishop didn’t believe a word of what he said, so he asked him to come back some other day when he could listen to him more carefully and examine his intentions. Sad and in despair, Juan Diego went back to the Virgin Mary and begged her to send the message with someone who had more influence, but she insisted that he go back to talk to the bishop. Juan Diego obeyed and went back to see the bishop. This time the bishop asked him to bring proof of what he was saying. He also sent two servants to follow Juan Diego, but on their way they lost track of him. Juan Diego, sadder than ever, told the Virgin Mary about the bishop’s request for proof. Our Lady asked him to come back the following day for the proof.
The following day Juan Diego’s uncle got very sick, and he couldn’t go to the appointment, and then the next day, December 12, 1531, Juan Diego hurried to church to find a priest to assist his uncle and, although he took another way to avoid the Virgin, she came to him and told him not to worry about his uncle, that he was going to be fine. Then she asked him to go to the top of the hill to gather some flowers. Juan Diego climbed the hill, and even though it was winter time, found the most beautiful fragrant Castilian roses. The Virgin re-arranged the flowers in Juan Diego’s tilma (a type of outer garment worn by men) and told him to go to the bishop and tell him this was the proof he wanted.
When Juan Diego finally managed to see the bishop, he extended his arms to show him the roses and the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe appeared on the cloth. That is how the Guadalupe Shrine came to be built in Mexico City.
Buildings for Guadalupan devotion
The Basilica of Guadalupe, a church in México City- The Basílica of Guadalupe in Monterrey, Nuevo León, México
- The Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe in Dallas, Texas.
- The Our Lady of Guadalupe Unfinished Cathedral in Zamora, Michoacán
- The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin
- The Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Makati City, Philippines
Facts
On July 31, 2002, after it was proved that Juan Diego had been making miracles for his followers, Pope John Paul II canonized him, making him the first indigenous Saint of America, in the Guadalupe Shrine of Mexico City.
Replicas of the tilma can be found in thousands of churches throughout the world, including Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris and the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome
The Virgin of Guadalupe is considered the Patroness of Mexico and the Continental Americas.
Guadalupe was considered the "Patroness of the Philippines" from 1935 until 1942, and her feast day is still celebrated in the archipelago.
Beliefs and Miracles
Throughout the years, many studies have been made about the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe imprinted in Juan Diego’s tilma; so many in fact, that it is considered miraculous that it maintains its structural integrity after nearly 500 years In addition, the tilma resisted an ammonia spill that made a considerable hole, which was reportedly repaired in two weeks with no external help.
Photographers and ophthalmologists have reported images reflected in the eyes of the Virgin (Purkinje effect is the reflection of the images in the human eye). It is believed that these images are of all the witnesses present when the tilma was shown to the Bishop in 1531.
Richard Kuhn, who received the 1938 Nobel Piece prize in Chemistry, said that the tint on the fabric of the tilma is not from a known mineral, vegetable, or animal source. Also in 1979 Philip Serna Callahan stated that portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle of the Virgin, appeared to have been painted with no sketches or corrections and no apparent brush strokes.
Every year, millions of people from all over the country and the rest of the world, visit the Virgin de Guadalupe’s Shrine enjoying all the festivities, folklore, food and color of the Mexican culture. We, at Focus on Mexico have had the opportunity to share with you many different festivities in Lake Chapala. Through out the year events like this enhance my great pride for the wonderful country where I was born.
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Tere Ruiz-Rodarte: Director of Research & Development for FocusOnMexico.
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