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Our Lady of Guadalupe

 
Our Lady of Guadalupe

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Our Lady of Guadalupe



 
 
Our Lady of Guadalupe is a celebrated 16th-century icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
 of the Virgin Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to The Blessed Virgin or The Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to describe Mary, mother of Jesus, the mother of...
, mother of Jesus Christ. The image, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe represents a famous Marian apparition. According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 on the back of a simple peasant cloak. It is perhaps Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
's most popular religious and cultural image, and the focus of an extensive pilgrimage
Christian pilgrimage

Christian pilgrimage was first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers like Jerome....
. The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12.






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Our Lady of Guadalupe is a celebrated 16th-century icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
 of the Virgin Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to The Blessed Virgin or The Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to describe Mary, mother of Jesus, the mother of...
, mother of Jesus Christ. The image, also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe represents a famous Marian apparition. According to the traditional account, the image appeared miraculously
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 on the back of a simple peasant cloak. It is perhaps Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
's most popular religious and cultural image, and the focus of an extensive pilgrimage
Christian pilgrimage

Christian pilgrimage was first made to sites connected with the birth, life, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. Surviving descriptions of Christian pilgrimages to the Holy Land date from the 4th century, when pilgrimage was encouraged by church fathers like Jerome....
. The feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe is December 12. She is said to have appeared to Saint Juan Diego on the hill of Tepeyac
Tepeyac

Tepeyac or the Hill of Tepeyac, historically known by the names "Tepeyacac" and "Tepeaquilla", is located inside Gustavo A. Madero, D.F., the northernmost delegaci?n or borough of the Mexican Federal District....
 near Mexico City
Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
 between December 9 and December 12, 1531.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of significant importance to Mexican Catholics. The Virgin Mary in this aspect has been given the title: "Patroness of the Americas", and the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe

The name Basilica of Guadalupe may refer to one of the two church es built on top of Tepeyac hill, north of Mexico City. The site is nearby the place where it is said Our Lady of Guadalupe appeared in front of Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin....
 in Mexico City is the second most visited Catholic shrine in the world.

The Virgin of Guadalupe has also symbolized the Mexican nation since the Mexican War of Independence
Mexican War of Independence

Mexican War of Independence , was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and Spanish colonial authorities, which started on 16 September 1810....
. The armies of Miguel Hidalgo
Miguel Hidalgo

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla or Miguel Hidalgo was a priest and the leader of the Mexican War of Independence. Miguel Hidalgo was born in the Corralejo Hacienda in P?njamo, Guanajuato....
, Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio D?az....
 and Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, or just Subcomandante Marcos, also known as Delegado Cero in matters concerning the Other Campaign, describes himself as the spokesman for the Mexico rebel movement, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation ....
 all marched beneath flags bearing the Guadalupan image, and Our Lady of Guadalupe is generally recognized to be a symbol of all Catholic Mexicans.

History


Account of the apparitions


According to official Catholic
Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
 accounts of the Guadalupan apparitions, during a walk from his home village to Mexico City early on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw a vision of a young girl of fifteen to sixteen, surrounded by light. This event occurred on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac
Tepeyac

Tepeyac or the Hill of Tepeyac, historically known by the names "Tepeyacac" and "Tepeaquilla", is located inside Gustavo A. Madero, D.F., the northernmost delegaci?n or borough of the Mexican Federal District....
. Speaking in the local language of Nahuatl, the Lady asked for a church to be built at that site in her honor. From her words, Juan Diego recognised her as the Virgin Mary
Blessed Virgin Mary

The Blessed Virgin Mary, sometimes shortened to The Blessed Virgin or The Virgin Mary, is a traditional title used by most Christians and most specifically used by liturgical Christians such as Roman Catholics, Anglicanism, Eastern Orthodox and Eastern Catholics, and some others to describe Mary, mother of Jesus, the mother of...
. When he told his story to the Spanish
Spain

Spain or the Kingdom of Spain , is a country located in Southern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula.The Spanish constitution does not establish any official denomination of the country, even though Espa?a , Estado espa?ol and Naci?n espa?ola are used interchangeably....
 bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
, Fray Juan de Zumárraga
Juan de Zumárraga

Juan de Zum?rraga was a Spain Basque people Franciscan prelate and first bishop of Mexico.Zum?rraga was born in Durango, Spain in the Biscay province in the Basque Country ....
, the bishop asked him to return and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her claim. The Virgin then asked Juan Diego to gather some flower
Flower

A flower, sometimes known as a bloom or blossom, is the reproduction structure found in flowering plants . The biological function of a flower is to mediate the union of male sperm with female ovum in order to produce seeds....
s from the top of Tepeyac Hill, even though it was winter when no flowers bloomed. He found there Castilian
Castile (historical region)

A former Kingdom of Castile, Castile , gradually merged with its neighbors to become the Crown of Castile and later the Kingdom of Spain with the Crown of Aragon and the Crown of Navarre....
  rose
Rosa damascena

Rosa ? damascena, more commonly known as the Damask rose or simply as "Damask", or sometimes as the Rose of Castile , is a rose Hybrid , derived from Rosa gallica and Rosa moschata ....
s (which were of the Bishop's native home, but not indigenous to Tepeyac). He gathered them, and the Virgin herself re-arranged them in his tilma, or peasant cloak. When Juan Diego presented the roses to Zumárraga, the image
Image

An image is an artifact, usually two-dimensional , that has a similar appearance to some subject —usually a physical object or a person....
 of the Virgin of Guadalupe miraculously
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
 appeared imprinted on the cloth of Diego's tilma.

The image

The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is often read as a coded
Code (semiotics)

In semiotics, a code is a set of Convention or sub-codes currently in use to communicate meaning. The most common is one's spoken language, but the term can also be used to refer to any narrative form: consider the color scheme of an image , or the rules of a board game ....
 image. Miguel Sanchez, the author of the 1648 tract Imagen de la Virgen María, described the Virgin's image as the Woman of the Apocalypse
Woman of the Apocalypse

The phrase 'Woman of the Apocalypse' refers to a character from the Book of Revelation 12:1-18:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars....
 from the New Testament
New Testament

The New Testament is the name given to the second major division of the Christianity Bible, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
's Revelation 12:1: "arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Mateo de la Cruz, writing twelve years after Sánchez, argued that "the Guadalupe possessed all the iconographical attributes of Mary in her Immaculate Conception
Immaculate Conception

For artistic depictions see Roman Catholic Marian art. For the novel by Ga?tan Soucy, see The Immaculate Conception.The Immaculate Conception is, according to Roman Catholic Dogma, the conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary without any stain of original sin....
". Likewise, a 1738 sermon preached by Miguel Picazo argued that the Guadalupe was the "best representation" of the Immaculate Conception.

Many writers, including Patricia Harrington and Virgilio Elizondo
Virgilio Elizondo

Virgilio Elizondo is a Mexican American, Roman Catholic priest who divides his time between his parish in San Antonio, Texas, and teaching at the University of Notre Dame in South Bend, Indiana....
, describe the image as containing coded messages for the indigenous people of Mexico.
"The Aztecs...had an elaborate, coherent symbolic system for making sense of their lives. When this was destroyed by the Spaniards, something new was needed to fill the void and make sense of New Spain...the image of Guadalupe served that purpose."
Her blue-green mantle
Robe

A robe is a loose-fitting outer clothing. A robe is distinguished from a cape or cloak by the fact that it usually has sleeves. The English language word robe is loanword from French language....
 was described as the color once reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl; her belt
Belt (clothing)

A belt is a flexible band, typically made of leather or heavy cloth, and worn around the waist. A belt supports trousers or other articles of clothing, and it serves for style and decoration....
 is interpreted as a sign of pregnancy
Pregnancy

Pregnancy is the carrying of one or more offspring, known as a fetus or embryo, inside the uterus of a female. In a pregnancy, there can be multiple gestations, as in the case of twins or Multiple birth....
; and a cross-shaped image symbolizing the cosmos and called nahui-ollin is said to be inscribed beneath the image's sash.

Yet another interpretation of the image is offered by the historian William B. Taylor
William B. Taylor

William B. Taylor may refer to:* William B. Taylor, Jr., United States ambassador to Ukraine* William B. Taylor , New York engineer and politician...
, who recounted that Guadalupe has also been "acclaimed goddess of the maguey [agave]" and pulque
Pulque

Pulque, or octli, is an alcoholic beverage made from the fermentation juice of the maguey, and is a traditional native beverage of Mesoamerica....
 was drunk on her feast day. A 1772 report described the rays of light around Guadalupe as maguey spines.

Documentation


Huei Tlamahuicoltica
A number of documents support the apparition account. In 1648 Miguel Sanchez, a diocesan priest of Mexico City, published the book Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe. This version was written in Spanish and contains the first presently known account of the Mexican appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Sanchez's story was written mainly for Mexican-born Spaniards and contains long sections of biblical analogy.

However, the most important version of the apparition account may be the Nahuatl-language Huei tlamahuiçoltica
Huei tlamahuiçoltica

Huei tlamahui?oltica omonexiti in ilhuicac tlatoca?ihuapilli Santa Maria totla?onantzin Guadalupe in nican huei altepenahuac Mexico itocayocan Tepeyacac is the title of a 36-page Tract published in 1649 by Bachelor's degree Luis Laso de la Vega, the vicar of the chapel at Tepeyac, and published the same year in New Spain ....
 ("The Great Event") which contains Nican mopohua ("Here it is recounted"), a tract about the Virgin which contains the aforementioned story. It also includes two other sections: Nican motecpana ("Here is an ordered account") which describes fourteen miracles connected with Our Lady of Guadalupe and Nican tlantica ("Here ends") which gives an account of the Virgin in New Spain. Huei tlamahuiçoltica closely mirrors the Sánchez narrative, but contains no biblical analogies. It is also composed of a more fully developed dialogue due to Nahuatl custom and manners in speech patterns. Huei tlamahuiçoltica is said to have been written by Antonio Valeriano in 1556; it was printed in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.

The Codex Escalada
Codex Escalada

The Codex Escalada, also called the Codex 1548, is a Nahuatl-language document which pictographically relates story of the 1531 Marian apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the Mexican hill of Tepeyac, an apparition which is credited with converting the indigenous peoples of Mexico to Roman Catholicism....
, a painting on deerskin which illustrates the apparition and discusses Juan Diego's death, was used during Juan Diego's 1990s canonization
Canonization

Canonization is the act by which a particular Christian church declares a deceased person to be a saint and is included in the canon, or list, of recognized saints....
 process. Critics, including Stafford Poole
Stafford Poole

The Reverend Stafford Poole, Lazarists, is a priest, full-time research historian, formerly a history professor and president of St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo, California....
 and David A. Brading, find the document suspicious—partly because of when it was discovered, and partly because it contains the handiwork of both Antonio Valeriano
Antonio Valeriano

Antonio Valeriano was a Viceroyalty of New Spain, Nahua peoples scholar and politician. He was an assistant to fray Bernardino de Sahag?n in the compilation of the Florentine Codex, and served as governor both of his home, Azcapotzalco, and of Tenochtitlan....
 (a man many apparition partisans believe to be the true author of the Nican mopohua) and the signature of Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún

Bernardino de Sahag?n , was a Franciscan missionary to the Aztecs people of Mexico, best known as the compiler of the Florentine Codex, also known as Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espa?a ....
, the Franciscan
Franciscan

The term Franciscan is commonly used to refer to members of Catholic religious orders that follow a body of regulations known as "The rule of St....
 missionary and anthropologist. Brading said that:
"Within the context of the Christian tradition, it was rather like finding a picture of St. Paul's
Paul of Tarsus

Saint Paul, also called Paul the Apostle, the Apostle Paul or Paul of Tarsus , was a Hellenistic Judaism, who called himself the "Apostle to the Gentiles", and was, together with Saint Peter and James the Just, the most notable of early Christian missionaries....
 vision of Christ
Christ

Christ is the English language term for the Greek meaning "the anointing", which is a title given to the Reigning Messiah in the given age of the Zodiac....
 on the road to Damascus
Damascus

Damascus is the capital and largest city of Syria. It is List of oldest continuously inhabited cities and its current population is estimated at about 4,000,000....
, drawn by St. Luke and signed by St. Peter".


The apparition account is also supported by a document called the Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666
Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666

is a Spanish document that helped support the Marian apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin at the hill of Tepeyac in 1531....
, a collection of oral interviews gathered near Juan Diego's hometown of Cuautitlan
Cuautitlán

Cuautitl?n is a city and municipality in the State of Mexico, just north of the northern tip of the Mexico City within the Greater Mexico City urban area....
. In this document various witnesses affirm, in interview format, details about Juan Diego and the Guadalupan apparition story.

Historicity debate and controversies


The historicity of the apparition account has been controversial since the first publications of the apparition accounts in 1647, and a considerable amount of literature has been published discussing the problems that arise when attempting to understand the apparition as an historically accurate account.

An important argument against the historicity of the accounts is that at time of the apparitions in 1531, Zumárraga
Juan de Zumárraga

Juan de Zum?rraga was a Spain Basque people Franciscan prelate and first bishop of Mexico.Zum?rraga was born in Durango, Spain in the Biscay province in the Basque Country ....
 was in fact not yet bishop of New Spain
New Spain

The Viceroyalty of New Spain , was the political unit of Spain territories in North America and Asia-Pacific. The territory included the present-day Southwestern United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines....
; he would not be formally consecrated until 1533, and became an Archbishop in 1547. Zumárraga had, however, been recommended for the post of bishop by Charles V
Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor

Charles V was ruler of the Holy Roman Empire from 1519 and, as Charles I of Spain, of the Spanish realms from 1516 until his abdication in 1556....
 on 20 December, 1527. Thus, at the time of the apparitions, Zumárraga was bishop-elect. There is no explicit mention of Juan Diego nor the Virgin in any of Zumárraga's writings. Furthermore, in a "catechism" published in New Spain
New Spain

The Viceroyalty of New Spain , was the political unit of Spain territories in North America and Asia-Pacific. The territory included the present-day Southwestern United States, Central America, the Caribbean, and the Philippines....
 before his death, it was stated: “The Redeemer of the world doesn’t want any more miracle
Miracle

File:Folio 171r - The Raising of Lazarus.jpgA miracle is a sensibly perceptible interruption of the laws of nature, such that can only be explained by divine intervention, and is sometimes associated with a miracle-worker....
s, because they are no longer necessary."

As early as 1556, Francisco de Bustamante, head of the Colony's Franciscans, delivered a sermon before the Viceroy and members of the Royal Audience. In that sermon, disparaging the holy origins of the picture and contradicting Archbishop Alonso de Montúfar
Alonso de Montúfar

Alonso de Mont?far Born in Loja, Andalusia, Spain c. 1489, died in Mexico City, March 7, 1572. Archbishop of Mexico 1551-1572.Following the chronicler Gil Gonz?lez D?vila some authors give the year 1498 as Mont?far's year of birth, however, Gonz?lez D?vila contradicts himself stating that the archbishop was eighty years old when he, erroneo...
's sermon of two days before, Bustamante stated:
"The devotion that has been growing in a chapel dedicated to Our Lady, called of Guadalupe, in this city is greatly harmful for the natives, because it makes them believe that the image painted by Marcos the Indian is in any way miraculous."


Some historians consider that the icon was meant to syncretically represent both the Virgin Mary and the indigenous Mexican goddess Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
, providing a way for 16th century Spaniards to gain converts among the indigenous population of early Mexico. It may have provided a method for 16th century indigenous Mexicans to covertly practice their native religion, although the contrary was asserted in the canonization process of Juan Diego.

In 1611, the Dominican
Dominican Order

The Order of Preachers , after the 15th century more commonly known as the Dominican Order or Dominicans, is a Roman Catholic religious order founded by Saint Dominic in the early 13th century in France....
 Martín de León, fourth viceroy of Mexico, denounced the cult of the Virgin of Guadalupe as a disguised worship of the Aztec goddess Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
. The missionary and anthropologist Bernardino de Sahagún
Bernardino de Sahagún

Bernardino de Sahag?n , was a Franciscan missionary to the Aztecs people of Mexico, best known as the compiler of the Florentine Codex, also known as Historia general de las cosas de Nueva Espa?a ....
 held the same opinion: he wrote that the shrine at Tepeyac
Tepeyac

Tepeyac or the Hill of Tepeyac, historically known by the names "Tepeyacac" and "Tepeaquilla", is located inside Gustavo A. Madero, D.F., the northernmost delegaci?n or borough of the Mexican Federal District....
 was extremely popular but worrisome because people called the Virgin of Guadalupe Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
. Sahagún said that the worshipers claimed that Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
 was the proper Nahuatl for "Mother of God"—but he disagreed, saying that "Mother of God" in Nahuatl would be "Dios y Nantzin."

19th-century historian Joaquín García Icazbalceta
Joaquín García Icazbalceta

Joaqu?n Garc?a Icazbalceta was a Mexico philologist and historian. He edited writings by Mexican writers who preceded him, wrote a biography of Juan de Zum?rraga, and translated William H....
, an authority on Fray Juan de Zumárraga
Juan de Zumárraga

Juan de Zum?rraga was a Spain Basque people Franciscan prelate and first bishop of Mexico.Zum?rraga was born in Durango, Spain in the Biscay province in the Basque Country ....
 was also very hesitant to support the story of the apparition and stated, in a confidential report to Bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
 Labastida in 1883, that there was never such a character as Juan Diego.

Many historians and some clerics, including the U.S. priest-historian Fr. Stafford Poole
Stafford Poole

The Reverend Stafford Poole, Lazarists, is a priest, full-time research historian, formerly a history professor and president of St. John's Seminary College in Camarillo, California....
 and former abbot of the Basilica of Guadalupe, Guillermo Schulenburg
Guillermo Schulenburg

Guillermo Schulenburg Prado, often referred to simply as Guillermo Schulenburg, was the abbot of the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City from 1963 to 1996....
, have rejected the historicity of the apparition accounts. Schulenburg in particular caused a stir with his 1996 interview with the Catholic
Catholic

Catholic is an adjective derived from the Greek language adjective , meaning "whole" or "complete". In the context of Christianity ecclesiology, it has a rich history and several usages....
 magazine Ixthus, when he said that Juan Diego was "a symbol, not a reality." Schulenburg was not the first to disbelieve the traditional account nor the first Catholic prelate to resign his post after questioning the Guadalupe story. In 1897, Eduardo Sánchez Camacho, the Bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
 of Tamaulipas
Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas is one of the 31 States of Mexico of Mexico and is located in the northeast....
 was forced to leave his post after expressing similar disbelief.

In 2002, art restoration expert José Sol Rosales said he examined the icon with a stereomicroscope and that he identified calcium sulfate
Calcium sulfate

Calcium sulfate is a common laboratory and industrial chemical. In the form of ?-anhydrite , it is used as a desiccant. It is also used as a coagulant in products like tofu....
, pine soot, white, blue, and green "tierras" (soil), reds made from carmine
Carmine

Carmine , also called Crimson Lake, Cochineal, Natural Red 4, C.I. 75470, or E120, is a pigment of a bright red color obtained from the carminic acid produced by some scale insects, such as the cochineal and the Polish cochineal, and is used as a general term for a particularly deep carmine ....
 and other pigments, as well as gold
Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and atomic number 79. It is a highly sought-after precious metal, having been used as money, as a store of value, in jewelry, in sculpture, and for ornamentation since the beginning of recorded history....
. Rosales said he found the work consistent with 16th century materials and methods.

Norberto Rivera Carrera, Archbishop of Mexico
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
, commissioned a 1999 study to test the tilma's age. Leoncio Garza-Valdés, a pediatrician and microbiologist who had previously worked with the Shroud of Turin, claimed, upon inspection of photographs of the image, to have found three distinct layers in the painting, at least one of which had initials painted on it. He also stated that the original painting showed striking similarities to the original Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe (Extremadura)

The shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe was the most important Shrines to the Virgin Mary in the Middle Ages kingdom of Kingdom of Castile. It is revered in the monastery of Santa Mar?a de Guadalupe, in today's C?ceres Provinces of Spain of the Extremadura Autonomous communities of Spain of Spain....
 found in Extremadura
Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous communities in Spain of western Spain whose capital city is M?rida, Spain. It includes the provinces of Spain of C?ceres and Badajoz ....
 Spain, with the second painting showing another Virgin with indigenous features. However he could cite no other independent observer who sees the same features. Garza-Valdés also claimed that the fabric on which the icon is painted is made of conventional hemp
Hemp

File:Industrialhemp.jpgHemp is the common name for plants of the entire genus Cannabis, although the term is often used to refer only to Cannabis strains cultivated for industrial use....
 and linen
Linen

Linen is a textile made from the fibers of the flax plant, Linum usitatissimum. Linen is labor-intensive to manufacture, but when it is made into garments, it is valued for its exceptional coolness and freshness in hot weather....
, not agave
Agave

Agave is a succulent plant plant of a large botanical genus of the same name, belonging to the family Agavaceae....
 fibers as is believed. Gilberto Aguirre, a colleague of Garza-Valdés who took part in the 1999 study, examined the same photographs and stated that, while agreeing the painting had been extensively tampered with, he disagreed with Garza-Valdes' conclusions and claims the conditions for conducting the study were inadequate.

Several similar icon
Icon

An 'icon' is a religious work of art, most commonly a painting, from Eastern Christianity. More broadly the term is used in a wide number of contexts for an image, picture, or representation; it is a sign or likeness that stands for an object by signifying or representing it either concretely or by analogy, as in semiotics; by extension, ...
s have appeared through Mexican
Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
 history. In the town of Tlaltenango
Tlaltenango

Tlaltenango, Mexican toponym, may mean:*Tlaltenango de S?nchez Rom?n, Zacatecas*Tlaltenango, Puebla*Tlaltenango, Morelos...
, in the state of Morelos, a painting of Our Lady of Guadalupe is claimed to have miraculously appeared in the inside of a box that two unknown travelers left in a hostel. The owners of the hostel called the local priest after noticing enticing aromas of flowers and sandalwood
Sandalwood

Sandalwood is the name for several Fragrance woods. From the Sanskrit candanam the name is borrowed as the Greek sandanon. The local name in Indonesia and Malaysia is "Cendana" ....
 coming out of the box. The image has been venerated on September 8 since its finding in 1720, and is accepted as a valid apparition of an image by the local Catholic authorities.

Symbol of Mexico

The Virgin of Guadalupe has symbolized the Mexican nation since Mexico's War of Independence
Mexican War of Independence

Mexican War of Independence , was an armed conflict between the people of Mexico and Spanish colonial authorities, which started on 16 September 1810....
. Rebel armies waged war underneath Guadalupan flags, and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is generally recognized as a symbol of all Mexicans.

Guadalupe's first major use as a nationalistic symbol was in the writing of Miguel Sánchez, the author of the first Spanish language
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
 apparition account. Sanchez identified Guadalupe as Revelation
Revelation

Revelation is the act of revealing or disclosing, or making something obvious and clearly understood through active or passive communication with the divinity....
's Woman of the Apocalypse
Woman of the Apocalypse

The phrase 'Woman of the Apocalypse' refers to a character from the Book of Revelation 12:1-18:1 And a great sign appeared in heaven: A woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars....
, and said that
"this New World has been won and conquered by the hand of the Virgin Mary...[who had] prepared, disposed, and contrived her exquisite likeness in this her Mexican land, which was conquered for such a glorious purpose, won that there should appear so Mexican an image."


In 1810 Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla initiated the bid for Mexican independence with his Grito de Dolores
Grito de Dolores

The Grito de Dolores was the battle cry of the Mexican War of Independence, uttered on September 16, 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a Roman Catholic priest from the small town of Dolores Hidalgo, near Guanajuato, Guanajuato....
,
yelling words to the effect of "Death
Death

Death is the permanent termination of the biological functions that define a life organism. It refers to both a particular event and to the condition that results thereby....
 to the Spaniards and long live the Virgin of Guadalupe!" When Hidalgo's mestizo-indigenous army attacked Guanajuato
Guanajuato

Guanajuato is a state in the central highlands of Mexico. It is named after its capital city, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, which comes from the local indigenous P'urh?pecha language, meaning "Hill of Frogs"....
 and Valladolid
Valladolid

||-||} is a historic city and municipality in north-central Spain, upon the Pisuerga River and within the Ribera del Duero wine-making region. It is the capital of the Valladolid and of the autonomous communities of Spain of Castile and Leon, therefore is part of the historical region of Castile ....
, they placed "the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, which was the insignia of their enterprise, on sticks or on reeds painted different colors" and "they all wore a print of the Virgin on their hats."
Guadalupano
When Hidalgo died, leadership of the revolution fell to a zambo
Zambo

Zambo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire and continues to be used today to identify individuals in Hispanic America who are of mixed African people and Indigenous people of the Americas ancestry....
/mestizo
Mestizo

Mestizo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Europe and Indigenous peoples of the Americas ancestry in Latin America....
 priest named Jose Maria Morelos
José María Morelos

Jos? Mar?a Teclo Morelos y Pav?n was a Mexico Roman Catholic priest and revolutionary rebel leader who led the Mexican War of Independence movement, assuming its leadership after the execution of Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla in 1811....
 who led insurgent troops in the Mexican south. Morelos was also a Guadalupan partisan: he made the Virgin the seal of his Congress of Chilpancingo
Congress of Chilpancingo

The Congress of Chilpancingo was a meeting held in Chilpancingo, in what is the modern-day Mexico Mexican state of Guerrero, from September to November 1813....
, stating
"New Spain puts less faith in its own efforts than in the power of God and the intercession of its Blessed Mother, who appeared within the precincts of Tepeyac as the miraculous image of Guadalupe that had come to comfort us, defend us, visibly be our protection."
He inscribed the Virgin's feast day, December 12, into the Chilpancingo
Chilpancingo

Chilpancingo, formally Chilpancingo de los Bravo), also known as Ciudad Bravo, is the capital and second-largest city of the States of Mexico of Guerrero, Mexico....
 constitution, and declared that Guadalupe was the power behind his military victories. One of Morelos' officers, a man named Felix Fernandez
Guadalupe Victoria

Guadalupe Victoria, born Jos? Miguel Ram?n Adaucto Fern?ndez y F?lix , was a Mexico revolutionary soldier who fought for independence against Spain in the Mexican War of Independence and later became the 1st....
 who would later become the first Mexican president, even changed his name to Guadalupe Victoria.

Simón Bolívar
Simón Bolívar

Sim?n Jos? Antonio de la Sant?sima Trinidad Bol?var Palacios y Blanco ? more commonly known as Sim?n Bol?var ? was, together with the Argentina general Jos? de San Mart?n, one of the most important leaders of Spanish America's successful struggle for independence....
, noticed the Guadalupan theme in these uprisings, and shortly before Morelos' death in 1815 wrote:
"...the leaders of the independence struggle have put fanaticism
Fanaticism

Fanaticism is an emotion of being filled with excessive, uncritical zeal, particularly for an extreme religion or politics cause or in some cases sports, or with an obsessive enthusiasm for a pastime or hobby....
 to use by proclaiming the famous Virgin of Guadalupe as the queen of the patriots, praying to her in times of hardship and displaying her on their flag
Flag

A flag is a piece of cloth, often flown from a pole or Mast , generally used symbolically for signaling or identification. The term flag is also used to refer to the graphic design employed by a flag, or to its depiction in another medium....
s...the veneration
Veneration

In Christianity, veneration , or veneration of saints, is a special act of honoring a saint: a dead person who has been identified as singular in the traditions of the religion....
 for this image in Mexico far exceeds the greatest reverence that the shrewdest prophet
Prophet

In religion, a prophet is a person who has claimed to have encountered the supernatural or the Divinity, often one who serves as an intermediary with humanity....
 might inspire."


In 1914, Emiliano Zapata
Emiliano Zapata

Emiliano Zapata Salazar was a leading figure in the Mexican Revolution, which broke out in 1910, and which was initially directed against the president Porfirio D?az....
's peasant army rose out of the south against the government of Porfirio Diaz
Porfirio Díaz

Jos? de la Cruz Porfirio D?az Mori was a Mexico politician who would later become the President of Mexico from 1876 to 1880 and from 1884 to 1911, and one of the most controversial figures of the country....
. Though Zapata's rebel forces were primarily interested in land reform
Land reform

Land reforms is an often-Land reform#Arguments for and against land reform alteration in the societal arrangements whereby government administers possession and use of land....
—"tierra y libertad" (land and liberty) was the slogan
Slogan

A slogan is a memorable motto or phrase used in a political, commerce, religious and other context as a repetitive expression of an idea or purpose....
 of the uprising—when Zapata's peasant troops penetrated Mexico City
Mexico City

Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
, they carried Guadalupan banners.

More recently, the contemporary Zapatista National Liberation Army (EZLN) named their "mobile city" in honor of the Virgin: it is called Guadalupe Tepeyac. EZLN spokesperson Subcomandante Marcos
Subcomandante Marcos

Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, or just Subcomandante Marcos, also known as Delegado Cero in matters concerning the Other Campaign, describes himself as the spokesman for the Mexico rebel movement, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation ....
 wrote a humorous letter in 1995 describing the EZLN bickering over what to do with a Guadalupe statue they had received as a gift.

Mestiza culture and Mexican identity


Some historians believe the icon syncretically represents both Virgin Mary and the indigenous Mexican goddess
Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. Often deities are part of a polytheism system that includes several deities in a pantheon .Common associations of goddesses are the Earth goddess, the Mother Goddess, Love goddess, and the hearth goddess, reflecting historical gender roles....
 Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
. Others believe the Virgin was a simplified and sanitized version of Coatlicue
Coatlicue

Coatlicue, also known as Teteoinan , "The Mother of Gods" , is the Aztec mythology who gave birth to the moon, stars, and Huitzilopochtli, the god of the sun and war....
, the Aztec
Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
 mother goddess
Mother goddess

A mother goddess is a term used to refer to any goddess associated with motherhood, fertility, creation or the bountiful embodiment of the Earth....
. This syncretism may have provided a way for 16th century Spaniards to gain converts among the indigenous population of early Mexico; it may also have provided a method for 16th century indigenous Mexicans to covertly practice their native religion.

Guadalupe is often considered a mixture of the cultures which blend to form Mexico, both racially and religiously Guadalupe is sometimes called the "first mestiza" or "the first Mexican". In the Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, Mary O'Connor writes that Guadalupe "bring[s] together people of distinct cultural heritages, while at the same time affirming their distinctness."

One theory is that the Virgin of Guadalupe was presented to the Aztec
Aztec

Aztec is a term used to refer to certain ethnic groups of central Mexico, particularly those groups who spoke the Nahuatl and who achieved political and military dominance over large parts of Mesoamerica in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries, a period referred to as the Late post-Classic period in Mesoamerican chronology....
s as a sort of "Christianised
Christianization

The historical phenomenon of Christianization, the religious conversion of individuals to Christianity or the conversion of entire peoples at once, also includes the practice of converting native Paganism practices and culture, pagan religious imagery, pagan sites and the pagan calendar to Christian uses, due to the Christian efforts at Ch...
" Tonantzin
Tonantzin

In Aztec mythology, Tonantzin is considered Mother Earth.Among the titles and honorifics bestowed upon Tonantzin are "Goddess of Sustenance", "Honored Grandmother", "Snake", "Bringer of Maize" and "Mother of the Corn"....
, necessary for the clergymen to convert the Indians to their Faith. As Jacques Lafaye wrote in Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe, "...as the Christians built their first churches with the rubble and the columns of the ancient pagan temples, so they often borrowed pagan customs for their own cult
Cult

This article does not discuss "cult" in the original sense of "veneration" or "religious practice"; for that usage see Cult . See Cult for more meanings of the term "cult"....
 purposes." An alternate view is that Guadalupe-Tonantzin gave the native Americans a hidden method to continue worshipping their own goddess in a Christianized form; similar patterns of syncretic worship can be seen throughout the Catholic Americas (e.g. Vodou, Santería
Santería

Santer?a is a Syncretism of Caribbean origin. Also known as Regla de Ocha, La Regla Lucumi, or Lukumi. From Spanish meaning "one who 'has', 'makes' or 'works' the spirit"....
). Guadalupan religious syncretism is both lauded and disparaged as demonic.

Some theologians also associate the Virgin of Guadalupe with a special relationship between the indigenous peoples of the American continents and the Catholic Church. This perspective developed as the scriptural terms of truths "hid ... from the wise and prudent" but "revealed...unto babes" (Matthew
Gospel of Matthew

The Gospel of Matthew is one of the four canonical gospels in the New Testament and is a synoptic gospel. It narrates an account of the New Testament view on Jesus' life and Ministry of Jesus of Jesus of Nazareth....
 11:25), but later developed into the "spiritual mestizaje
Mestizo

Mestizo is a Spanish language term that was used in the Spanish Empire to refer to people of mixed Europe and Indigenous peoples of the Americas ancestry in Latin America....
 of the Americas", and the "option for the poor" provided by Liberation theology
Liberation theology

Liberation theology is a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism....
.

The author Judy King asserts that Guadalupe is a "common denominator" uniting Mexicans. Writing that Mexico is composed of a vast patchwork of differences—linguistic, ethnic, and class-based—King says "The Virgin of Guadalupe is the rubber band that binds this disparate nation into a whole."

This sentiment was echoed by two celebrants interviewed in the New York Times at the Virgin's feast day in 1998: "We say that we are more Guadalupanos than Mexicans," said the Jesuit Brother Joel Magallan. "We say that because our Lady Guadalupe is our symbol, our identity." David Solanas, another feast-goer, agreed, saying "We have faith in her. She's like the mama of all the Mexicans."

The origin of the name "Guadalupe" is controversial. According to a sixteenth-century report the Virgin identified herself as Guadalupe when she appeared to Juan Diego's uncle, Juan Bernardino
Juan Bernardino

Juan Diego Bernardino was one of two Aztec peasants alleged to have had visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary as Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1531....
. It has also been suggested that "Guadalupe" is a corruption of a Nahuatl name "Coatlaxopeuh", which has been translated as "Who Crushes the Serpent. In this interpretation, the serpent referred to is Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl

Quetzalcoatl is a benevolent and mythical deity, creator of humanity in the Toltec tradition, predating the Mexica deity. The name is a combination of quetzal, a brightly colored Mesoamerican bird, and wikt:coatl, meaning serpent....
, one of the chief Aztec gods
Aztec mythology

The Aztec civilization recognized a polytheistic mythology, which contained the many gods and supernatural creatures from their religious beliefs....
, whom the Virgin Mary "crushed" by inspiring the conversion of indigenous people to Catholicism. However, many historians believe that the 1533 Guadalupan shrine was dedicated to the Spanish Lady of Guadalupe in Extremadura—not to the Mexican Virgin venerated today. Thus, while the name "Guadalupe" would have had certain connotations to Nahuatl speakers, as noted above, its ultimate origins would be the Arabic-Latin term "Wadi
Wadi

Wadi is the Arabic term traditionally referring to a valley; in some cases it may refer to a dry Stream bed that contains water only during times of heavy rain....
 Lupum", meaning "Valley of the Wolf" or "Wad(i)-al-hub", that means "River of Love", name that the Moors
Moors

In the Spanish language, the term for Moors is Moro; in Portuguese language the word is mouro. There seems to have been some confusion about the relationship of the word moro/mouro to the word moreno , both from Greek language ma?ros, i.e....
 given to a river in the Spanish region of Extremadura
Extremadura

Extremadura is an autonomous communities in Spain of western Spain whose capital city is M?rida, Spain. It includes the provinces of Spain of C?ceres and Badajoz ....
 for the supposedly aphrodisiac qualities of its water."

The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes

Carlos Fuentes Mac?as is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. Fuentes has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages....
 once said that "...one may no longer consider himself a Christian, but you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."

Nobel Literature laureate
Nobel Prize in Literature

The Nobel Prize in Literature is awarded annually, since 1901, to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction" ....
 Octavio Paz
Octavio Paz

Octavio Paz Lozano was a Mexican writer, poet, and diplomacy, and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Prize for Literature....
 wrote in 1974 that "the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery".

Beliefs and Miracles

Many consider it miraculous that the tilma has maintained its structural integrity over nearly 500 years, since replicas made with the same type of materials normally last only about 15 years before disintegrating. In addition to withstanding the elements, the tilma is said to have resisted a 1791 ammonia spill that made a considerable hole, which was reportedly repaired in two weeks with no external help. In 1921, an anarchist placed an offering of flowers next to the image. A bomb hidden within the flowers exploded and destroyed the shrine. However, the image suffered no damage.

Photographers and ophthalmologists
Ophthalmology

Ophthalmology is the branch of medicine which deals with the Eye diseases and Eye surgery of the visual pathways, including the eye, brain, and areas surrounding the eye, such as the lacrimal system and eyelids....
 have reported images reflected in the eyes of the Virgin. In 1929 and 1951 photographers found a figure reflected in the Virgin's eyes; upon inspection they said that the reflection was tripled in what is called the Purkinje effect
Purkinje images

Purkinje images are reflections of objects from structure of the eye. They are also known as Purkinje reflexes and as Purkinje-Sanson images. There are at least four Purkinje images that are visible on looking at an eye....
. This effect is commonly found in human eyes. The ophthalmologist Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann later enlarged the image of the Virgin's eyes by 2500x magnification
Magnification

Magnification is the process of enlarging something only in appearance, not in physical size. This enlargement is quantified by a calculated number also called magnification....
 and said he saw not only the aforementioned single figure, but rather images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was shown to the Bishop
Bishop

A bishop is an ordination or consecration member of the Clergy#Christian clergy who is generally entrusted with a position of authority and oversight....
 in 1531. Tonsmann also reported seeing a small family—mother, father, and a group of children—in the center of the Virgin's eyes. In response to the eye miracles, Joe Nickell and John F. Fischer wrote in Skeptical Inquirer
Skeptical Inquirer

The Skeptical Inquirer is a bimonthly, United States magazine published by the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry with the subtitle: The magazine for science and reason....
 that images seen in the Virgin's eyes are the result of the human tendency to form familiar shapes from random patterns, much like a psychologist's inkblots
Rorschach inkblot test

The Rorschach inkblot test is a method of psychology evaluation. Psychologists use this test to try to examine the personality characteristics and emotional functioning of their patients....
—a phenomenon known as religious pareidolia
Religious pareidolia

Perceptions of religious imagery in natural phenomena are sightings of images with religious themes, especially the faces of religious figures, in ordinary phenomena....
.

Richard Kuhn
Richard Kuhn

Richard Kuhn was an Austrian-Germany Biochemistry and Nobel laureate....
, who received the 1938 Nobel Chemistry prize
Nobel Prize in Chemistry

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, Nobel Prize in Physics, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Pri...
, is said to have analyzed a sample of the fabric in 1936 and said the tint on the fabric was not from a known mineral, vegetable, or animal source. In 1979 Philip Serna Callahan studied the icon with infrared
Infrared

Infrared radiation is electromagnetic radiation whose wavelength is longer than that of visible light , but shorter than that of terahertz radiation and microwaves ....
 light and stated that portions of the face, hands, robe, and mantle appeared to have been painted in one step, with no sketches or corrections and no apparent brush strokes.

Guadalupe in the Catholic Church


Pontifical Pronouncements on the Virgin of Guadalupe

With the Brief Non est equidem of May 25, 1754, Pope Benedict XIV
Pope Benedict XIV

Pope Benedict XIV , born Prospero Lorenzo Lambertini, was Pope from 17 August 1740 to 3 May 1758....
 declared Our Lady of Guadalupe patron of what was then called New Spain, corresponding to Spanish Central and Northern America, and approved liturgical texts for the Holy Mass
Mass (liturgy)

The Mass is the Eucharistic celebration in the Latin liturgical rites of the Roman Catholic Church. The term is used also of similar celebrations in Old Catholic Churches, in the Anglo-Catholic tradition of Anglicanism, and in some largely High Church Lutheranism Lutheranism regions, including the Scandinavian and Baltic states countries....
 and the Breviary
Breviary

A breviary is a liturgical book of the Latin liturgical rites of the Catholic Church containing the public or canonical prayers, hymns, the Psalms, readings, and notations for everyday use, especially by, bishops, priests, and deacons in the Divine Office ....
 in her honour. Pope Leo XIII
Pope Leo XIII

Pope Leo XIII , born Count Vincenzo Gioacchino Raffaele Luigi Pecci, was the 256th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, reigning from 1878 to 1903, succeeding Pope Pius IX....
 granted new texts in 1891 and authorized coronation of the image in 1895. Pope Saint Pius X
Pope Pius X

Pope St. Pius X , born Giuseppe Melchiorre Sarto, was the 257th Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, serving from 1903 to 1914, succeeding Pope Leo XIII ....
 proclaimed her patron of Latin America in 1910. In 1935 Pope Pius XI
Pope Pius XI

Pope Pius XI , born Ambrogio Damiano Achille Ratti, reigned as Pope from February 6, 1922, and as sovereignty of Vatican City from its creation as an independent state on February 11, 1929 until his death on February 10, 1939....
 proclaimed her principal patron of the Philippines and had a monument in her honor erected in the Vatican Gardens. Pope Pius XII
Pope Pius XII

Pope Pius XII , born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli , reigned as the 260th pope, head of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City, from March 2, 1939 until his death in 1958....
 declared the Virgin of Guadalupe “Queen of Mexico and Empress of the Americas” in 1945, and "Patroness of the Americas" in 1946. Pope John XXIII
Pope John XXIII

Blessed Pope John XXIII , born Angelo Giuseppe Roncalli , known as Blessed John XXIII since his beatification, was elected as the 261st Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City on 28 October 1958....
 invoked her as "Mother of the Americas" in 1961, referring to her as Mother and Teacher of the Faith of All American populations, and in 1966 Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI

Pope Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Roman Catholic Church and monarch of Vatican City from 1963 to 1978....
 sent a Golden Rose
Golden Rose

The Golden Rose is a gold Decorative art, which popes of the Catholic Church have traditionally blessed annually. It is occasionally conferred as a token of reverence or affection....
 to the shrine.

Pope John Paul II
Pope John Paul II

Pope John Paul II John Paul II is widely acclaimed as one of the most influential leaders of the twentieth century. He has been Pope_John_Paul_II#Role_in_the_fall_of_Communism in bringing down communism in Eastern Europe, as well as significantly improving the Roman Catholic Church's relations with Judaism, the Eastern Orthodox Church, and A...
 visited the shrine in the course of his first journey outside Italy as Pope from 26 to January 31, 1979, and again when he beatified Juan Diego there on May 6, 1990. In 1992 he dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe a chapel within St. Peter's Basilica
St. Peter's Basilica

The Basilica of Saint Peter , officially known in Italian language as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St. Peter's Basilica, is located within the Vatican City....
 in the Vatican. At the request of the Special Assembly for the Americas of the Synod of Bishops, he named Our Lady of Guadalupe patron of the Americas on January 22, 1999 (with the result that her liturgical celebration had, throughout the Americas, the rank of solemnity
Solemnity

A Solemnity of the Roman Catholic Church is a principal holy day in the liturgical calendar, usually commemorating an event in the life of Jesus, his mother Blessed Virgin Mary, or other important saints....
), and visited the shrine again on the following day. On July 31, 2002, he canonized Juan Diego before a crowd of 12 million, and later that year included in the General Calendar
Roman Catholic calendar of saints

The General Roman Calendar indicates the days of the year to which are assigned the liturgical celebrations of Saint and of the mysteries of the Jesus Christ that are to be observed wherever the Roman Rite is used....
 of the Roman Rite
Roman Rite

The liturgy of the Catholic Church of Rome is called the Roman Rite. The quite distinct term Latin Rite usually refers not to a liturgical rite but to the particular Church within the Roman Catholic Church that was sometimes referred to also as the Patriarchate of the West....
, as optional memorials, the liturgical celebrations of Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin (December 9) and Our Lady of Guadalupe (December 12).

Catholic devotions

Replicas of the tilma can be found in thousands of churches throughout the world, including Notre Dame
Notre Dame de Paris

Notre Dame de Paris is a Gothic architecture cathedral on the eastern half of the ?le de la Cit? in the 4th arrondissement of Paris of Paris, France, with its main entrance to the west....
 Cathedral in Paris
Paris

Paris is the Capital of France and the country's largest city. It is situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the ?le-de-France Regions of France ....
 and the Basilica of Saint Peter in Rome
Rome

Rome is the capital city of Italy and Lazio, and is Italy's largest and most populous city, with 2,724,347 residents in an urban area of some ....
, and numerous parish
Parish

A parish is a local church; it is an administrative unit typically found in Roman Catholic, Anglican, United Methodist, and Presbyterianism churches....
es bear her name.

The Virgin of Guadalupe is considered the Patroness of Mexico and the Continental Americas; she is also venerated by Native Americans, on the account of the devotion calling for the conversion of the Americas, and by people involved in the Pro-Life
Pro-life

Pro-life is a term representing a variety of perspectives and activist movements in medical ethics. It is most commonly used, especially in the media and popular discourse, to refer to opposition to abortion....
 Movement.

Guadalupe was considered the "Patroness of the Philippines" from 1935 until 1942, and her feast day is still celebrated in the archipelago. The icon is especially invoked in the Philippines
Philippines

The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
 by people working against the passage of the Reproductive Health Bill.

Buildings for Guadalupan devotion


  • The Basilica of Guadalupe, a church in Mexico City
    Mexico City

    Mexico City is the capital city of Mexico. It is the most important economic, industrial, and cultural center in the country; the most populous city with over 8,836,045 inhabitants in 2008....
  • The Santuario de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe a church in Puerto Vallarta
    Puerto Vallarta

    Puerto Vallarta is a Mexican resort city situated on the Pacific Ocean's Bah?a de Banderas.The 2005 census reported Puerto Vallarta's population as 177,830 making it the fifth-largest city in the States of Mexico of Jalisco....
    , Jalisco
    Jalisco

    Jalisco is a Mexican state in Mexico. The capital of Jalisco is the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco. In the 2005 census, Jalisco had a population of 6,752,113 people....
  • The Santuario de Guadalupe, a church in Guatemala City
    Guatemala City

    Guatemala City is the Capital and largest city of the nation of Guatemala. It is also the capital city of the local Guatemala and the largest city in Central America....
  • The Basílica of Guadalupe
    Basilica of Guadalupe, Monterrey

    The Basilica of Guadalupe or Santuario de Nuestra Se?ora de Guadalupe, is a Roman Catholic church located in the metropolitan area of Monterrey, Nuevo Le?n, Mexico....
     in Monterrey
    Monterrey

    Monterrey is the capital city of the northeastern Mexico state of Nuevo Le?n and a Monterrey of the same name. Also known as "Sultana del Norte" , Monterrey is an important industrial and business center....
    , Nuevo Leon
    Nuevo León

    Nuevo Le?n is a States of Mexico located in northeastern Mexico. It borders the states of Tamaulipas to the north and east and San Luis Potos? to the south, and Coahuila to the west....
    , Mexico
    Mexico

    The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federalism constitutionalism republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of Mexico....
  • The Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe
    Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe

    The Cathedral Santuario de Guadalupe is the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Dallas, Texas. The structure dates from the late 19th century and is located in the Arts District, Dallas of downtown Dallas, Texas....
     in Dallas, Texas
    Texas

    Texas is a U.S. state located in the South Central United States, nicknamed the Lone Star State. Texas is the second largest U.S. state in both area and population, spanning , and with a growing population of 24.3 million residents....
    .
  • The Our Lady of Guadalupe Unfinished Cathedral
    Our Lady of Guadalupe Unfinished Cathedral

    Our Lady of Guadalupe Unfinished Cathedral is a Catholic cathedral located in Zamora, Michoac?n,Mexico....
     in Zamora, Michoacán
    Zamora, Michoacán

    Zamora de Hidalgo, is a city in the Mexico States of Mexico of Michoac?n. It is located in the Tzir?ndaro Valley , part of the Tarascan Plateau in the northwestern part of the state, at an altitude of 1,567 m....
  • The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe
    Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe

    The Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe is a Roman Catholic shrine dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the person of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wisconsin....
     in La Crosse, Wisconsin
    Wisconsin

    Wisconsin is one of the fifty U.S. state in the United States of America, located in the north central part of the United States. It borders two of the five Great Lakes and four U.S....
  • The Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Makati City
    Makati City

    The City of Makati, or simply Makati, is one of the Cities of the Philippines and Philippine municipality that make up Metro Manila, the Metropolitan area of the Manila....
    , Philippines
    Philippines

    The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
  • The Guadalupe Church, Cebu City
    Cebu City

    The City of Cebu , is the capital city of Cebu in the Philippines, and is the second most Metro Cebu in the Philippine Islands. The Cities of the Philippines is located on the eastern shore of Cebu, and is the first Spanish settlement in the Philippines....
    , Philippines
    Philippines

    The Philippines, officially known as the Republic of the Philippines, is a country in Southeast Asia with Manila as its capital city. It comprises 7,107 islands in the western Pacific Ocean....
  • Church of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Puchong
    Puchong

    Puchong is a main town in Petaling district, Selangor in Malaysia. Puchong used to be a rubber estate and tin-mining town about 40 years ago. Up until about 20 years ago, Puchong consists of only one two-lane road running through estates and villages....
    , Selangor
    Selangor

    Selangor is one of the 13 states of Malaysia. It is on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia and is bordered by Perak to the north, Pahang to the east, Negeri Sembilan to the south and the Strait of Malacca to the west....
    , Malaysia
    Malaysia

    Malaysia is a federation that consists of States of Malaysia in Southeast Asia with a total landmass of . The capital city is Kuala Lumpur, while Putrajaya is the seat of the federal government....
    .


See also

  • Maravilla Americana
    Maravilla Americana

    Maravilla Americana are the first two words of the lengthy title of a literary masterpiece by Miguel Cabrera , ?the genial brush turned to a pen? as it was immediately celebrated, on the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe....
The second most visited shrine for the Virgin of Guadalupe is in Puerto Vallarta,Jalisco, México.

Books

  • Brading, D.A. Mexican Phoenix. Our Lady of Guadalupe: Image and Tradition Across Five Centuries. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.
  • Elizondo, Virgil. Guadalupe. Mother of a New Creation. Maryknoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1997.
  • Krauze, Enrique. Mexico, Biography of Power. A History of Modern Mexico 1810-1996. New York:HarperCollins, 1997.
  • Lafaye, Jacques. Quetzalcoatl and Guadalupe. The Formation of Mexican National Consciousness 1531-1813. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1976.
  • Poole, Stafford. Our Lady of Guadalupe. The Origins and Sources of a Mexican National Symbol, 1531-1797. Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1997.
  • Sousa, Lisa, et al, eds. The Story of Guadalupe. Luis Laso de la Vega's Huei tlamahuicoltica of 1649. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 1998.
  • Taylor, William B. Drinking, Homicide, and Rebellion in Colonial Mexican Villages. Stanford University Press: Stanford, 1979.
  • Ernesto de la Torre Villar, y Ramiro Navarro de Anda. "Testimonios Históricos Guadalupanos." Fondo de Cultura Económica, 1982
  • Xavier Escalada. "Enciclopedia Guadalupana", México D.F.
  • Mariano Cuevas, S.J. "Album Histórico Guadalupano del IV Centenario", 1930. México D.F.
  • Guerrero Rosado, José L.: "El Nican Mopohua"; "Los dos mundos de un indio santo"; "El Manto de Juan Diego".
  • León-Portilla, Miguel. "Tonanzin Guadalupe", Fondo de Cultura Económica 2000, México D.F.
  • Robert J. Fox. A Handbook on Guadalupe, Fatima Family Apostolate, 1988, USA


Websites

  • Ashburne, Elyse. "Catholic relic's authenticity questioned by researcher." Daily Texan. June 4, 2002. , accessed December 5, 2006
  • Goeringer, Conrad. "Virgin of Guadalupe a Fraud, Says Abbot." , accessed July 9, 2007
  • Beckwith, Barbara. "A View From the North." St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999. , accessed December 3, 2006
  • Conchiglia. "Movimento d'Amore San Juan Diego dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe", October 24, 2001. accessed March 6, 2007
  • Daily Catholic. December 7, 1999.
  • Elizondo, Virgil. "Our Lady of Guadalupe. A Guide for the New Millennium." St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online. December 1999. , accessed December 3, 2006
  • Fray Bernaerdino de Sagahun y el culto de Guadalupe." Proyecto Guadalupano , accessed December 1, 2006
  • Garduño, Thalia Ehrlich. "Virgen de Tlaltenango." mariologia.org, accessed November 29, 200
  • Guerra, Giulio Dante. "La Madonna di Guadalupe. 'Inculturazione' Miracolosa." Cristianità. n. 205-206, 1992. , accessed December 1, 2006
  • King, Judy. "La Virgen de Guadalupe—Mother of All Mexico." , accessed November 29, 2006
  • La Virgen de Guadalupe," panam.edu , accessed November 30, 2006
  • "Los Ojos de Guadalupe: Un misterio para la ciencia." fluvium.org , accessed November 30, 2006
  • Mendoza, Rubi. "Coatlaxopeuh or Guadalupe?" xispas.com , accessed December 3, 2006
  • Nickell, Joe. "'Miraculous' Image of Guadalupe." Skeptical Briefs, June 2002. accessed November 29, 2006.
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe." catholic.org , accessed November 30, 2006
  • Our Lady of Guadalupe."
  • "Our Lady of Guadalupe." livingmiracles.net , accessed November 30, 2006
  • "Our Lady of Guadalupe. Historical sources." L'Osservatore Romano. January 23, 2002, page 8.
  • Scheifler, Michael. "The Aztec Goddess Tonantzin and the Feast of Guadalupe." Bible Light Homepage. , accessed December 3, 2006
  • Subcomandante Marcos, "Zapatistas Guadalupanos and the Virgin of Guadalupe." March 24, 1995 , accessed December 11, 2006
  • "The Eyes." Interlupe. , accessed December 3
  • The Image." Interlupe. , accessed December 3, 2006
  • "The Lady of Guadalupe. An Invented Myth or a Strange Reality?" laermita.org , accessed November 30, 2006
  • "Why the name 'of Guadalupe'?" sancta.org , accessed November 30, 2006
  • Sennott, Br. Thomas Mary. "The Tilma of Guadalupe: A Scientific Analysis." , accessed December 3, 2006 (.pdf)
  • Vera, Rodrigo. "La Guadalupana, tres imagenes en uno." Proceso, May 25, 2002. , accessed November 29, 2006
  • Zwick, Mark and Louise. "Why San Juan Diego, a Saint for Nobodies, Means So Much to the Houston Catholic Worker." Houston Catholic Worker newspaper, September-October 2002


Periodicals

  • Bushnell, John. "La Virgen de Guadalupe as Surrogate Mother in San Juan Aztingo." American Anthropologist: Vol 60, Number 2, p. 261. 1958
  • "Divided By an Apparition." New York Times. September 5, 1896; p. 3
  • Herszenhorn, David M. "Mexicans Unite to Honor Their Spiritual Mother." December 13, 1998, New York Times, Section 1, Page 51.
  • Lopez, Lydia. "'Undocumented Virgin.' Guadalupe Narrative Crosses Borders for New Understanding." Episcopal News Service. December 10, 2004.
  • Notitiae, bulletin of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, 2002, p. 194-195
  • O'Connor, Mary. "The Virgin of Guadalupe and the Economics of Symbolic Behavior." The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion. Vol. 28, Issue 2. p. 105-119. 1989
  • Peterson, Jeannette Favot. "The Virgin of Guadalupe. Symbol of Conquest or Liberation?" Art Journal. Vol. 51, Issue 4, p. 39. 1992


External links

  • in San Miguel de Allende
    San Miguel de Allende

    San Miguel de Allende is the seat of the municipality of Allende, Guanajuato, Mexico, a historic town founded in 1542 that has become an attractive tourist destination for wealthy Mexico City residents and has a large American and Canadian expatriate community composed primarily of retirees....
    , Gto
    Guanajuato

    Guanajuato is a state in the central highlands of Mexico. It is named after its capital city, Guanajuato, Guanajuato, which comes from the local indigenous P'urh?pecha language, meaning "Hill of Frogs"....
    .
  • maintained by Xavier Escalada, the finder of the Codex Escalada
    Codex Escalada

    The Codex Escalada, also called the Codex 1548, is a Nahuatl-language document which pictographically relates story of the 1531 Marian apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe on the Mexican hill of Tepeyac, an apparition which is credited with converting the indigenous peoples of Mexico to Roman Catholicism....
  • Vera, Rodrigo. "Demanda a cardenal por venta fraudulenta." Originally from Proceso magazine. , accessed 29 November 2006.