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Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe

Our Lady of Guadalupe

Feast Day
Dec 12, 2012
Patronage
-
<p>Our Lady of Guadalupe is a celebrated Icon of the Blessed Virgin Mary.&nbsp; There were two accounts published in the 1640&rsquo;s, one in Spanish and one in Nahuatl.&nbsp; They tell how, while walking form his village to Mexico City in the early morning of December 9, 1531, a peasant Juan Diego (now St. Juan Diego who&rsquo;s Feast Day we celebrated on the December 9<sup>th</sup>) saw on the slopes of the Hill of Tepeyac a vision of a girl of fifteen or sixteen years of age, surrounded by light. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p> <p>Speaking to him in Nahuatl, the local language, she asked that a Church be built at that site, in her honor.&nbsp; From her words, Juan Diego recognized the Lady as the Blessed Virgin Mary.&nbsp; Juan Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga, originally from Spain, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the lady for a miraculous sign to prove her identity.&nbsp; The Blessed Virgin Mary told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill.&nbsp; Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found at the usually barren hilltop &ldquo;Castilian&rdquo; roses, not native to Mexico, but native to Spain where Bishop Zumarraga is from. &nbsp;</p> <p>The Blessed Virgin arranged in Juan Diego&rsquo;s tilma cloak, the flowers.&nbsp; He was asked to not open his tilma for anyone but the Bishop.&nbsp; When Juan Diego opened the cloak before Bishop Zumarraga on December 12<sup>th</sup>, the flowers fell to the floor, and in their place was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe, miraculously imprinted on the fabric of his tilma.&nbsp; The Icon is now displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Mexico City, Mexico.&nbsp; This Shrine is one of the most visited Marian Shrines in the world.&nbsp; The Icon is Mexico&rsquo;s most popular religious and cultural image, bearing the title, &ldquo;Queen of Mexico&rdquo;. &nbsp;</p> <p>In 1999, Pope John Paul II proclaimed the Virgin Mary as &ldquo;Patroness of the Americas, Empress of Latin America, and Protectress of Unborn Children&rdquo; under this Marian title, &ldquo;Our Lady of Guadalupe&rdquo;. &nbsp;</p>