In 1531 a Lady from Heaven appeared to Saint Juan Diego, a humble indigenous man from Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico City. She revealed herself as the Mother of the True God and asked him to request that the bishop build a church on that spot. As a sign for the bishop, she left her own image imprinted on his tilma, a simple cloak made from cactus fibre. Although such material should have decayed within twenty years, the tilma has remained intact for almost five centuries, showing no signs of deterioration. Its origin continues to puzzle scientific experts.
In the eyes of Our Lady of Guadalupe on the tilma, researchers have found reflections of what she would have seen in front of her in 1531. Her message of love, compassion and protection for all people, along with the story of the apparitions, is recorded in the “Nican Mopohua,” a sixteenth century text written in the native Nahuatl language.
Some believe that at Tepeyac Mary appeared in her glorified body and physically arranged the roses within Saint Juan Diego’s tilma, which gives this apparition a unique character.
Many miracles, healings and divine interventions have been attributed to Our Lady of Guadalupe over the centuries. About ten million pilgrims visit her basilica every year, making it the most visited Marian shrine in the world and second only to Saint Peter’s Basilica as the most visited Catholic church.
Scientific studies still cannot explain the tilma. There is no underdrawing, no preparation layer and no protective varnish on the image. Microscopic examinations show no brush strokes. The image appears to shift in size and colour because of an unexplained quality of the material. Kodak researchers in Mexico have noted that the surface feels similar to a modern photograph, even though it was produced centuries before photography existed. Artists have been unable to reproduce the image accurately by painting or photography.
Multiple figures appear reflected in the Virgin’s eyes, believed to include Saint Juan Diego, Bishop Juan de Zumarraga, Juan Gonzales the interpreter and others. The reflections match the type of distortion seen in a real human eye, something impossible to recreate on a flat surface. The stars on her mantle correspond to the arrangement of constellations in the sky on December twelve, fifteen thirty one. Experts who have examined the tilma over the centuries consistently say that its properties are unique and cannot be explained by natural means.
Twenty four popes have formally honoured Our Lady of Guadalupe. Saint John Paul the Second visited her sanctuary four times: in nineteen seventy nine, nineteen ninety, nineteen ninety nine and two thousand two.
The feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated on December twelve. In nineteen ninety nine, during Mass at the basilica, Saint John Paul the Second declared this date a liturgical holy day for the entire American continent. During the same visit he entrusted the cause of life to her care and placed under her maternal protection the unborn and all children whose lives are in danger.
Our Lady of Guadalupe is the patroness of the Americas, Central America, Mexico, the New World, Spain’s region of Estremadura and many dioceses in the United States including Colorado Springs, Corpus Christi, Dodge City, Gallup, Nashville, Orange, Phoenix, Sacramento and Sioux City, as well as Puerto Vallarta in Mexico.