The following is a shortened version of the "Link" provided on the Subject of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The story is so profound and riveting that I thought I would post a good majority of it in this Article. It is a True Story, and one that will Amaze You! Enjoy! :D
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The following account of the five apparitions in three days is based on the oldest written record of the miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Nican Mopohua, written in Náhuatl about 1540 sejak Don Antonio Valeriano, one of the first Aztec Indians educated sejak the Franciscans at the Bishop's Colégio de la Santa Cruz. An illustration of the apparition event with the signatures of Don Antonio Valeriano and his teacher Father Bernardino de Sahagún with the tarikh 1548 was recently uncovered in a private collection in 1995, now referred to as the Codex 1548. The Codex 1548 has been scientifically determined to be genuine, and substantiates the historical basis of the apparition of Guadalupe.
The Jesuit Father Miguel Sanchez published the first Spanish work on Guadalupe, Imagen de la Virgen Maria Madre de Dios de Guadalupe in 1648. Brother Luis Lasso de la Vega published in Náhuatl the Nican Mopohua; the Nican Motecpana, an account of fourteen miracles of Our Lady; and other documents in a collection known as Huey Tlamahuizoltica in 1649. The theologian Luis Becerra Tanco published his work on the tradition of Guadalupe in 1675. Finally, the Jesuit professor of theology Francisco de Florencia produced his account of the apparition in 1688. These four writers have been important in the preservation of the tradition of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The history of the event is of prime importance. The precipitous conversion of over 8 million Aztec Indians to Catholicism in seven years is highly indicative of the miracle of Guadalupe. It has been pointed out that great historical movements do not result from non-events.
The Miracle of Tepeyac
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The Aztec Indian Cuauhtlatoatzin, which means "the one who speaks like an eagle," was born in 1474. He married a girl named Malintzin, and they lived with an uncle near Lake Texcoco. The three were among the few to be baptized in the early days, most likely sejak Father Toribio in 1525, and telah diberi the names Juan Diego and Maria Lucia, and the uncle Juan Bernardino. Maria Lucia was childless, and died a premature death in 1529.
Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin was a widower at age 55, and turned his life to God. It was his custom to attend Mass and catechism lessons at the Church in Tlatelolco. At daybreak, on Saturday, December 9, 1531, Juan Diego began his journey to Church. As he passed a bukit named Tepeyac, on which once stood a temple to the Aztec mother god Tonantzin, he heard songbirds burst into harmony. Muzik and songbirds presaged something divine for the Aztec. The Muzik stopped as suddenly as it had begun. A beautiful girl with tan complexion and bathed in the golden beams of the sun called him sejak name in Náhuatl, his native language, "Juan Diego!" The young woman said:
"Dear little son, I Cinta you.
I want anda to know who I am.
"I am the Virgin Mary, Mother of the one true God, of Him who gives life.
He is Lord and Creator of heaven and of earth.
I desire that there be built a temple at this place where I want to manifest Him, make him known,
give Him to all people through my love, my compassion, my help, and my protection.
I truly am your merciful Mother, your Mother and the Mother of all who dwell in this land, and of all mankind,
of all those who Cinta me, of those who cry to me, and of those who seek and place their trust in me.
Here I shall listen to their weeping and their sorrows.
I shall take them all to my heart, and I shall cure their many sufferings, afflictions, and sorrows.
So run now to Tenochtitlan and tell the Lord Bishop all that anda have seen and heard."
Juan Diego went to the palace of the Franciscan Bishop Juan de Zumárraga, and after rude treatment sejak the servants, was granted an audience with the Bishop. The Bishop was cordial but hesitant on the first visit and berkata that he would consider the request of the Lady and politely invited Juan Diego to come visit again.
Dismayed, Juan returned to the bukit and found Mary waiting for him (second apparition). He asked her to send someone lebih suitable to deliver her message "for I am a nobody."
She berkata on this saat visit, "Listen, little son. There are many I could send. But anda are the one I have chosen for this task. So, tomorrow morning, go back to the Bishop. Tell him it is the ever holy Virgin Mary, Mother of God who sends you, and repeat to him my great desire for a church in this place."
So, Sunday morning, December 10, Juan Diego called again on the Bishop for the saat time. Again with much difficulty, he was finally granted an audience. The Bishop was surprised to see him and told him to ask for a sign from the Lady.
Juan Diego reported this to the Virgin (third apparition), and she told him to return the following morning for the sign. However, when Juan Diego returned utama he found his uncle Juan Bernardino gravely ill. Instead of going back to Tepeyac, he stayed utama with his dying uncle on Monday.
Juan Diego woke up early Tuesday morning, December 12th, 1531to bring a priest from the Church of Santiago at Tlatelolco, so that his uncle might receive the last blessing. Juan had to pass Tepeyac bukit to get to the priest. Instead of the usual route sejak the west side of the hill, he went around the east side to avoid the Lady. Guess who descended the bukit on the east side to intercept his route!
The Virgin said, "Least of my sons, what is the matter?"
Juan was embarrassed sejak her presence (fourth apparition). "My Lady, why are anda up so early? Are anda well? Forgive me. My uncle is dying and desires me to find a priest for the Sacraments. It was no empty promise I made to anda yesterday morning. But my uncle fell ill."
Mary said, "My little son. Do not be distressed and afraid.
Am I not here who am your Mother?
Are anda not under my shadow and protection?
Am I not the mata air, air pancut of your joy?
Are anda not in the fold of my mantle, in the buaian of my arms?
Your uncle will not die at this time. This very moment his health is restored. There is no reason now for your errand, so anda can peacefully attend to mine. Go up to the bahagian, atas of the hill; cut the Bunga that are growing there and bring them to me."
Bunga in December? Impossible, thought Juan Diego. But he was obedient, and sure enough found beautiful Castilian Ros on the hilltop. As he cut them, he decided the best way to protect them against the cold was to buaian them in his tilma - a long, cloth cape worn sejak the Aztecs, and often looped up as a carryall. He ran back to Mary and she rearranged the Ros and tied the lower corners of the tilma behind his neck so that nothing would spill, and said, "You see, little son, this is the sign I am sending to the Bishop. Tell him that now he has his sign, he should build the temple I desire in this place. Do not let anyone but him see what anda are carrying. Hold both sides until anda are in his presence and tell him how I intercepted anda on your way to fetch a priest to give the Last Sacraments to your uncle, how I assured anda he was perfectly healed and sent anda up to cut these roses, and myself arranged them like this. Remember, little son, that anda are my trusted ambassador, and this time the Bishop will believe all that anda tell him." This fourth apparition was the last known time Juan Diego ever saw the Virgin Mary.
Juan called for the third time on the Bishop and explained all that had passed. Then Juan put up both hands and untied the corners of crude cloth behind his neck. The looped-up fold of the tilma fell; the Bunga he thought were the precious sign tumbled out on the floor.
The Bishop rose from his chair and fell on his knees in adoration before the tilma, as well as everyone else in the room. For on the tilma was the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary just as described sejak Juan Diego.
Meanwhile, in the course of these events, Juan Bernardino, the dying uncle, suddenly found his room filled with a soft light. A luminous young woman filled with Cinta was standing there and told him he would get well. During this fifth apparition, she told him that she had sent his nephew, Juan Diego, to the Bishop with an image of herself and said,
"Call me and my image the ever Virgin Saint Mary of Guadalupe."
THE IMPACT
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The news of the appearance of the Indian mother who left her imprint on the tilma spread like wildfire! Three points were appreciated sejak the native population. First, the lady was Indian, spoke Náhuatl, the Aztec language, and appeared to an Indian, not a Spaniard! Second, Juan Diego explained that she appeared at Tepeyac, the place of Tonantzin, the mother god, sending a clear message that the Virgin Mary was the mother of the true God, and that the Christian religion was to replace the Aztec religion. And third, the Indians, who learned through pictures and symbols in their culture of the image, grasped the meaning of the tilma, which revealed the beautiful message of Christianity: the true God sacrificed himself for mankind, instead of the horrendous life they had endured sacrificing humans to appease the frightful gods! It is no wonder that over the seterusnya seven years, from 1531 to 1538, eight million natives of Mexico converted to Catholicism! 1, 3-5, 7, 9-11
The Image on the Tilma
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The imprint of Mary on the tilma is striking, and the symbolism was primarily directed to Juan Diego and the Aztecs. Mary appears as a beautiful young Indian maiden with a look of love, compassion, and humility, her hands folded in prayer in reverence to the Almighty God. Her face is also not unlike that of a Jewish maiden. Her rose dress, adorned with a melati, jasmine flower, eight petal flowers, and nine hati, tengah-tengah Bunga symbolic to the Aztec culture, is that of an Aztec princess. Her blue mantle symbolized the royalty of the gods, and the blue color symbolized life and unity. The stars on the mantle signified the beginning of a new civilization. La Morenita appeared on the hari of the winter solstice, considered the hari of the sun's birth; the Virgin's mantle accurately represents the 1531 winter solstice! Mary stands in front of and hides the sun, but the rays of the sun still appear around her, signifying she is greater than the sun god, the greatest of the native divinities, but the rays of the sun still bring light. Twelve rays of the sun surround her face and head. She stands on the moon, supported sejak an Angel with wings like an eagle: to the Aztec, this indicated her superiority to the moon god, the god of night, and her divine, regal nature.
Most important are the black maternity band, a melati, jasmine flower, and a menyeberang, cross that are present in the image. Mary wore a black maternity band, signifying she was with child. At the center of the picture, overlying her womb, is a melati, jasmine bunga in the shape of an Indian cross, which is the sign of the Divine and the center of the cosmic order to the Aztec. This symbol indicated that the baby Mary carried within her, Jesus Christ, the Word made Flesh, is Divine and the new center of the universe. On the brooch around her neck was a black Christian cross, indicating she is both a bearer and follower of Christ, the Son of God, our Savior, who died on the menyeberang, cross to save mankind.
In summary, the image signified Mary bringing her Son Christ to the New World through one of their own!
As Father Miguel Sanchez noted in 1648, one cannot help but identify Our Lady of Guadalupe with the Woman of the Apocalypse, recorded in Revelation 12: 1, 3, 12
"A great sign appeared in the sky,
a woman clothed with the sun,
with the moon at her feet,
and on her head a crown of twelve stars."
Revelation 12:1
The tilma itself was a cape worn sejak the Indians of the time, made of ayate, a coarse fiber from agave atau the maguey plant. The cape measures 5.5 x 4.6 feet, and is made in two parts sewn sejak a vertical seam made with thread of the same material. The natural life of the fiber is roughly 20 years to 30 years at most, yet the tilma and the image remain intact after 480 years, in spite of moisture, handling, and candles! 1-5 ,11
The Immediate Aftermath
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Bishop Zumárraga was overwhelmed sejak the miracle of the tilma, and this time extended his hospitality to Juan Diego and invited him to spend the night. He gently removed the tilma and placed it in his private chapel, where all prayed in thanksgiving for the miracle.
The following day, they set out for Tepeyac, and Juan Diego showed Bishop Zumárraga where Mary had appeared. The Bishop directed that a small sanctuary be erected at the site. The enthusiasm from the event produced so many volunteers that a chapel in Tepeyac was constructed sejak Krismas Day.
Juan Diego then asked leave of the Bishop that he might see his uncle. The Bishop insisted that Juan Diego be escorted back to his utama and then returned to his palace. Juan Diego and Juan Bernardino were joyfully reunited, and both recounted to each other the miraculous events. Juan Diego brought his uncle back to the Bishop's residence to tunjuk him the tilma, and they stayed as guests of the Bishop until Christmas. The convergence of the curious multitude led the Bishop to alih the tilma to the Cathedral so that all could marvel and pray.
On December 26, 1531, a solemn procession with the Bishop, Juan Diego, Franciscan priests, and the faithful brought the tilma from the Cathedral to the Chapel at Tepeyac, that became known as the Hermitage. Thousands attended the procession. In the excitement, some Indians shot arrows into the air, and one mortally wounded a man in the procession. A priest tended to the wound, and prayers were berkata to the Virgin, and the man was reported to have been miraculously healed. This only added to the fervor of the procession.
Juan Diego lived in a little house built for him seterusnya to the chapel at Tepeyac, and showed the tilma and explained the apparition and its Christian significance over and over to pilgrims who visited the shrine. He died peacefully on May 30, 1548 and was buried at Tepeyac. Bishop Zumárraga died the same tahun as Juan Diego.
The miracle of Our Lady of Guadalupe led to a tidal wave of conversions. The few missionaries that initially were met with resistance became overwhelmed with baptisms, preaching, and instruction in the faith. An early missionary, the Franciscan Father Toribio de Benavente, recorded in his Historia de Los Indios, published in 1541, that "I have to affirm that at the convent of Quecholac, another priest and myself baptized 14,200 souls in five days. We even placed the Oil of Catechumens and Holy Chrism on all of them."
baru-baru ini Developments
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The Virgin of Guadalupe is literally intertwined with both the History of the Catholic Church in the new world and of Mexico itself. To mention a few events, the great floods of 1629 claimed 30,000 lives and threatened the destruction of the valley of Mexico, until the waters abated when the image was taken in solemn procession from Tepayac to Mexico City. A horrible plague in the early 1700s claimed the lives of 700,000 people, and, once the Virgin of Guadalupe was declared the Patroness of Mexico on 27 April 1737, the disease dissipated. But before that, as Mexico became mestizo, the union of Spanish born in Mexico and the Indians, La Morenita, atau the dark Virgin, became the symbol of the people, and they Cinta her as one of their own. 3, 5
On November 14, 1921, during a period of government persecution, a powerful bomb hidden in Bunga exploded directly underneath the tilma during High Mass, and destroyed stone and marble in the sanctuary and shattered the stained-glass windows of the Basilica. When the smoke cleared, the congregation was amazed to find that the tilma remained untouched, and the thin protective glass covering was not even cracked, nor was anyone hurt.
Scientific studies of the tilma have been undertaken through the years, which have only served to pasti its Supernatural nature. The tilma remains just as vibrant as ever, having never faded. Famous Mexican artists such as Miguel Cabrera (1695-1768) determined that it is impossible for the rough surface of the tilma to support any form of painting. Furthermore, the tilma appeared to embody four different kinds of painting, oil, tempura, watercolor, and fresco, blended in an inexplicable fashion. One of the unusual characteristics of the tilma is that up close the features are unremarkable, but the tone and depth emerge beyond six atau seven feet and the image becomes lebih radiant and photogenic.
The astonishing discovery that reflections of people in Mary's eyes, perhaps Juan Diego and Bishop Zumarraga atau the interpreter Juan Gonzalez, were confirmed sejak two scientists in 1956. This phenomenon is seen only with human eyes, not in a painting.4, 10, 11
Studies sejak infra-red Fotografi in May of 1979 were undertaken sejak Philip C. Callahan, a research biophysicist at the universiti of Florida. He ruled out brush strokes, over-painting, varnish, sizing, atau even preliminary drawings sejak an artist in the body of the image. Damage from the 1629 flood was apparent at the edges of the tilma. He concluded that the original image on the tilma has qualities of color and uses the weave of the cloth in such a way that the image could not be the work of human hands.
How did Our Lady identify herself? Bishop Zumárraga understood the Spanish name Guadalupe, a Marian shrine in Estremadura, Spain. But Mary spoke Náhuatl to Juan Diego, and some writers suggest that she may have berkata Coatlaxopeuh atau one "who treads on the snake," recalling Genesis 3:15. On the other hand, Juan Gonzalez, the interpreter present for conversations between Juan Diego, his uncle, and the Bishop, was reported to be fluent in both Náhuatl and Spanish, so any misinterpretation would seem unlikely.2, 4 Either may be possible, as Mary is our Mother (John 19:25-27) everywhere.
The tilma of Juan Diego is the only known divine image of the Blessed Virgin Mary that exists on our planet!
Seven million people from the Americas visit the Virgin of Guadalupe every year, especially on December 12, the annual celebration of the miracle. If one visits Mexico City, one can plainly see who has the hati, tengah-tengah of the people. One finds the Virgin of Guadalupe pictured everywhere in Mexico City, in the airport, taxis, bakeries, even on streetcorners. Our Lady has been the factor that has preserved the Aztec Indians from the cultural disintegration observed with other Indian populations such as in North America.3, 4
Popes through the ages have recognized Our Lady of Guadalupe, and Pope John XXIII was the first to call the Virgin Mother of the Americas on October 12, 1961. John Paul II was the first Pope to visit the Guadalupe shrine on January 27, 1979. On January 23, 1999, Pope John Paul II, referring to all of the Americas as one single continent, called the Virgin of Guadalupe the Mother of America.
Pope John Paul II canonized Juan Diego a Saint on July 31, 2002. Juan Diego certainly deserves sainthood, as he was both humble and obedient to the request of Our Lady. The Catholic Church remains firmly entrenched in Mexico, Central and South America, which today are at least 90% Catholic. The Catholic Church of the United States with 77 million Catholics can attribute much of our baru-baru ini growth to the Hispanic population of North America.
Dios te salve, María,
llena eres de gracia,
El Señor es contigo.
Bendita tú eres entre todas las mujeres,
y bendito es el fruto de tu vientre, Jesús.
Santa María, Madre de Dios,
ruega por nosotros pecadores,
ahora y en la hora de nuestra muerte.
Amén.
Friday, December 12, 2003
La Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe
I write this from Mexico City during the Feast hari of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
The Mexico Herald reports that a crowd of 5 million has come to honor the Blessed Virgin Mary in Tepeyac, now La Villa, Mexico City. The square in front of the Basilica is filled with families waiting to attend Mass and to see the tilma of St. Juan Diego. The beautiful new Basilica, which holds 10,000 people, was completed in 1976.
I am struck sejak the faith of the Mexican people. Some are walking on their knees, some bulatan in native dances. Some have travelled for three days and have camped out in front of the Church.
They line up in front of the escalators that go underneath the tilma behind the main altar. They pray and cry in front of the beautiful relic of the Virgin that visited their land 472 years ago. I look up and am struck sejak the natural beauty and Warna of the Virgin's dress. How can the tilma be so bright but so old?! The paintings in the nearby museum are only 150 years old but are dark and faded.
The Mass of the Ros blends all of the Mexican cultures - Mestizo, Indian, and Criollo. The Muzik is interspersed with the beat of native drums and dancing. The crucified Jesus hangs alone on his menyeberang, cross above the main altar, which is elevated on a platform. Behind the altar to the right is the tilma of the Virgin, underneath a large menyeberang, cross on the wall. The aroma of Ros fills the air. Cinta and tears fill the faces of the people.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Patroness of the Americas, please pray for us.
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