Readings — Zec. 2:14-17 or Rev. 11:19; 12:1-6, 10; Jdt. 13:18, 19; Lk. 1:26-38 or Lk. 1:39-47.

Some Notes on Our Lady of Guadalupe:

On 9 to12 December 1531 at Tepeyac, Archdiocese of Mexico City, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared four times to a lowly indigenous peasant, Juan Diego, an Aztec convert to Christianity, and once to his uncle, Juan Bernardino. 

On Saturday morning, 9 December 1531, Juan Diego saw the glowing figure of a lady on the hill of Tepeyac. The lady spoke to Juan in Nahuati, his language. She identified herself as Mary, “mother of the very true deity.” She asked for a church to be erected at that site in her honor. This was her first apparition to Juan. 

On Mary’s instruction, Juan sought out the Archbishop of Mexico City, Abp. Juan de Zumárraga, to tell him what happened. Understandably, the Archbishop did not believe Juan Diego. Later that same day, Our Lady again appeared for a second time to Juan and asked him to continue insisting. 

The next day, Sunday, 10 December, Juan again spoke to the Archbishop. The Archbishop instructed him to return to Tepeyac and ask Our Lady for a sign to prove her identity. Later that day, Our Lady appeared for a third time to Juan. He told Our Lady of the Archbishop’s request for a sign. She promised to give it the next day, Monday, 11 December. 

But on Monday, Juan’s uncle, Juan Bernardino, fell ill and Juan had to attend to him. Juan Bernardino’s condition deteriorated in the early hours of Tuesday, 12 December. Juan looked for a priest to hear his uncle’s confession and prepare him for death. Ashamed that he had failed to meet Our Lady on Monday, 11 December, as agreed, Juan chose another route around Tepeyac Hill. 

But, for the fourth time, Our Lady appeared to Juan. She asked where he was going. Juan explained what happened. Our Lady gently chided him for not having made recourse to her. She said to him, “No estoy yo aqui que soy tu madre?” (“Am I not here, I who am your mother?”), the most famous words of the Guadalupe apparitions, now inscribed above the main entrance to the Basilica of Guadalupe. 

Our Lady assured Juan that his uncle had recovered. She told Juan to gather flowers from the summit of Tepeyac Hill. The summit was usually barren and it was a cold December winter. There would be no flowers there. But Juan obeyed Our Lady. To his surprise, he found Castile roses, not native to Mexico, blooming there. Our Lady arranged the flowers in Juan’s “tilma” or cloak. Later that day, when Juan opened his cloak before Abp. Zumárraga, the flowers fell to the floor, revealing on the fabric the image of Our Lady. 

The next day, 13 December, Juan found his uncle fully recovered. His uncle recounted that he had also seen Our Lady, that she had instructed him to inform the Archbishop of Our Lady’s apparition and his miraculous cure — and that she desired to be known under the title of “Guadalupe.” 

The Archbishop kept Juan’s cloak, first in his private chapel and then in the church on public display. 

On 26 December 1531, the miraculous image was transferred in a procession to Tepeyac Hill, where it was installed in a small, hastily erected chapel.

In the 16th century, the Catholic clergy were deeply divided as to the orthodoxy of the native beliefs springing up around the image of Our Lady, as well as the authenticity of the apparitions.

In 1754, the true and valid value of the apparitions were confirmed by the Sacred Congregation of Rites. Pope John Paul II beatified Juan Diego in 1990 and canonized him 10 years later in 2000 under the name, San Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin.

The image of the Virgin on the “tilma” of San Juan Diego was of a woman of mixed indigenous and European features, a “mestiza,” symbolizing the unity of both cultures. She is wearing a turquoise-colored (blue green) mantle. This is a color of Aztec royalty. The image is surrounded by a sunburst that symbolizes someone greater than the sun and greater than any Aztec sun gods. 

Our Lady’s head is bowed in humility, her hands together in prayer. The image remains the most enduring sacred object in all of Mexico, and has played an important role as a national symbol of the country. Over 20 million visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe each year.

In 1935, Pius XI approved her patronage over the Philippines. In 1999, the Church officially proclaimed her the “Patroness of the Americas, the Empress of Latin America and the Protectress of Unborn Children.”

Prayer: O God, Father of mercies, You placed your people under the singular protection of Your Son’s most holy Mother. Grant that all who invoke the Blessed Virgin of Guadalupe may seek with ever more lively faith the progress of peoples in the ways of justice and peace, through Christ our Lord. Amen.