Our Lady of Guadalupe (1531)

Guadalupe is a little town three miles north of Mexico City.  There, in the year 1531, thirty-nine years after Columbus discovered America, Our Lady appeared to a simple Indian fifty-five years old, named Juan Diego.  Juan Diego had been converted to the Catholic Faith six years before.  Our Lady appeared to this simple Indian three times, and to his uncle once.  She wanted a shrine built in Guadalupe in her honor.  Our Lady saw in the Mexicans a people she could love and beautifully make her children.  For the sake of those who doubted that Juan Diego had seen her, on the morning of December 12, 1531, Our Lady told him to gather some roses from the hill and put them in his cloak and carry them to the bishop of his diocese.  Juan Diego did so. When he opened his cloak–the Mexicans call it his (si)tilma(ei)–in the presence of the authorities, there was found imprinted on it one of the most beautiful pictures of the Mother of God that has ever been seen.

Guadalupe

This picture is called “Our Lady of Guadalupe.”  Copies of it have been made and sent to every part of the world.  Within eight years after the apparition of Our Lady to this simple Mexican Indian, nine million converts among his people were made to the Catholic Faith.  Mexicans have beautifully preserved the Catholic Faith through the years in spite of all the opposition of the enemies of Christ.  There are great numbers of Mexicans in Heaven.

See also: Our Lady of Guadalupe

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