Saint of the day for December 12: the story of Our Lady of Guadalupe

Saint of the day for December 12nd

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The festival in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe dates back to the XNUMXth century. The chronicles of that period tell us the story.

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name of Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was going to a nearby barrio to attend the mass in honor of the Madonna.

Juan was walking up a hill called Tepeyac when he heard wonderful music like the gurgling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and inside was an Indian maiden dressed as an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in her own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop had to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Finally the bishop told Juan to ask the lady to give him a sign. Around the same time, Juan's uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Juan to try to avoid the lady. However the lady found Juan, assured him that his uncle would recover and gave him roses to take to the bishop in his cloak or tilma.

On December 12, when Juan Diego opened his tilma in the presence of the bishop, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop fell to his knees. On the tilma where the roses had been, an image of Mary appeared exactly as she had appeared on Tepeyac Hill.

Reflection

Mary's appearance to Juan Diego as one of her people is a powerful reminder that Mary - and the God who sent her - accept all peoples. In the context of the sometimes rude and cruel treatment of Indians by the Spaniards, the apparition was a reproach to the Spaniards and an event of vast significance for the indigenous population. Although some of them had converted before this incident, they now came in droves. According to a contemporary chronicler, nine million Indians became Catholics in a very short time. In these days when we hear so much about God's preferential option for the poor, Our Lady of Guadalupe cries out to us that the love of God and identification with the poor is a secular truth that comes from the Gospel itself.

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of:

The Americas
Mexico