Most historians agree that St. Juan Diego (feast day December 9) was born in 1474 in Cuauhtitlan, about 14 miles north of Tenochtitlan, which is present-day Mexico City. His given native name was Cuauhtlatoatzin, which could be translated as “One who talks like an eagle” or “eagle that talks.” Between 1524 and 1525, he and his wife converted and were baptized, receiving the Christian names of Juan Diego and Maria Lucia.
Juan Diego was born in the Aztec empire, which had made many remarkable architectural and artistic accomplishments. However, the Aztecs most striking and remarkable features were, perhaps, the practice of human sacrifice and slavery. While human sacrifice was practiced throughout Mesoamerica, the Aztecs, if their own accounts are to be believed, brought this practice to an unprecedented level. Some estimate the number of persons sacrificed in central Mexico in the 15th century as high as 250,000 per year.
The Aztecs had 18 festivities each year, one for each Aztec month, and in those festivities sacrifices were made. Each god required a different kind of victim: young women were drowned for Xilonen; children were sacrificed to Tláloc; Nahuatl-speaking prisoners to Huitzilopochtli, and a single nahua would volunteer for Tezcatlipoca. One contemporary report gives this description:
“They strike open the wretched Indian's chest with flint knives and hastily tear out the palpitating heart which, with the blood, they present to the idols . . . They cut off the arms, thighs and head, eating the arms and thighs at ceremonial banquets. The head they hang up on a beam, and the body is given to the beasts of prey.”
For the reconsecration of Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, the Aztecs reported that they sacrificed 84,400 prisoners over the course of four days, reportedly by Ahuitzotl, the Great Speaker himself. Four tables were arranged at the top so that the victims could be jettisoned down the sides of the temple pyramid. But this culture of death would end.
On December 9, 1531, which, at that time, was the date for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Juan Diego was walking through the Tepayac hill country in central Mexico when he encountered a beautiful young woman surrounded by a ball of light as bright as the sun. Speaking in his native tongue, the beautiful lady identified herself,
"My dear little son, I love you. I desire you to know who I am. I am the ever-virgin Mary, Mother of the true God who gives life and maintains its existence. He created all things. He is in all places. He is Lord of Heaven and Earth. I desire a church in this place where your people may experience my compassion. All those who sincerely ask my help in their work and in their sorrows will know my Mother's Heart in this place. Here I will see their tears; I will console them and they will be at peace. So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Bishop all that you have seen and heard."
When Juan Diego lady her name, she responded in his native language of Nahuatl,
"Tlecuatlecupe," which has been interpreted as "the one who crushes the head of the serpent" (a clear reference to Genesis 3:15 and perhaps to the prominent symbol of the Aztec religion).
"Tlecuatlecupe" when correctly pronounced, sounds remarkably similar to "
Guadalupe." Juan, who had never been to Tenochtitlan, nonetheless immediately responded to Mary's request. Bishop Zumarraga told Juan that he would consider the request. Juan returned to the hill and found the Lady there waiting for him. Imploring her to send someone else, she responded,
"My little son, there are many I could send. But you are the one I have chosen."
She then told him to return the next day to the bishop and repeat the request. On Sunday, after again waiting for hours, Juan met with the bishop who, on re-hearing his story, asked him to ask the Lady to provide a sign as a proof of who she was. Juan dutifully returned to the hill and told Mary. She responded,
"My little son, am I not your Mother? Do not fear. The Bishop shall have his sign. Come back to this place tomorrow. Only peace, my little son."
Unfortunately, Juan was not able to return to the hill the next day. His uncle had become mortally ill and Juan stayed with him to care for him. After two days, with his uncle near death, Juan left his side to find a priest. Juan had to pass Tepayac Hill to get to the priest. As he was passing, he found Mary waiting for him. She spoke,
"Do not be distressed, my littlest son. Am I not here with you who am your Mother? Are you not under my shadow and protection? Your uncle will not die at this time. There is no reason for you to engage a priest, for his health is restored at this moment. He is quite well. Go to the top of the hill and cut the flowers that are growing there. Bring them then to me."
While it was freezing on the hillside, Juan obeyed Mary's instructions and went to the top of the hill where he found a full bloom of Castilian roses. Removing his tilma, a poncho-like cape made of cactus fiber, he cut the roses and carried them back to Mary. She rearranged the roses and told him,
"My little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that with this sign I request his greatest efforts to complete the church I desire in this place. Show these flowers to no one else but the Bishop. You are my trusted ambassador. This time the Bishop will believe all you tell him."
At the palace, Juan once again came before the bishop. He opened the tilma, letting the flowers fall out. But it wasn't the beautiful roses that caused the bishop and his advisors to fall to their knees; for there, on the tilma, was a picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary precisely as Juan had described her. The next day, after showing the tilma at the Cathedral, Juan took the bishop to the spot where he first met Mary. He then returned to his village where he met his uncle who was completely cured. His uncle told him he had met a young woman, surrounded by a soft light, who told him that she had just sent his nephew to Tenochtitlan with a picture of herself. She told his uncle,
"Call me and call my image Santa Maria de Guadalupe."
Within six years of the apparitions, six million Aztecs had converted to Catholicism, and thereby rejected their previous culture of death. The tilma shows Mary as the God-bearer -- she is pregnant with her Divine Son.
Since the time the tilma was first impressed with a picture of the Mother of God, it has been subject to a variety of environmental hazards including smoke from fires and candles, water from floods and torrential downpours and, in 1921, a bomb which was planted by anti-clerical forces on an altar under it. There was also a cast-iron cross next to the tilma and when the bomb exploded, the cross was twisted out of shape, the marble altar rail was heavily damaged and the tilma was untouched. Indeed, no one was injured in the Church despite the damage that occurred to a large part of the altar structure.
In 1977, the tilma was examined using infrared photography and digital enhancement techniques. Unlike any painting, the tilma shows no sketching or any sign of outline drawn to permit an artist to produce a painting. Further, the very method used to create the image is still unknown. The image is inexplicable in its longevity and method of production. It can be seen today in a large basilica built to house up to 10,000 worshipers. A list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Yearly, an estimated 10 million visit
her Basilica, making it the most visited Catholic church in the world next to the Vatican.
Lord God, through St. Juan Diego you made known the love of Our Lady of Guadalupe toward your people. Grant by his intercession that we who follow the counsel of Mary, our Mother, may strive continually to do your will. We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen.
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