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Today is the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, patron saint of all the Americas.
The story begins on December 9, 1531. A man named Cuauhtlatohuac, which means “Eagle Who Speaks” in Nahuatl, an Uto-Aztecan language, reported that he saw an amazing site while he was walking to Mass near what today is Mexico City, largest city in North America.
Juan Diego was born sometime around 1474 in Mexico. He was a poor man who made his living as a weaver, laborer, and farmer. He was also a devout Catholic Christian who walked 14 miles each day to attend Mass. When the Spaniards came, they gave Cuauhtlatohuac a new name, Juan Diego.
On the morning of December 9, 1531, as Juan Diego was walking to church, he heard music coming from a hill called Tepeyac. Suddenly, he saw a beautiful cloud encircled by a rainbow and a woman dressed like an Aztec princess. She had beautiful skin color of a Mestiza, and she spoke his Nahuatl language.
She told Juan Diego that she was the Virgin Mary and wanted a church to be built on that very site. She said she was the devoted Mother and that she wanted the people to know of her compassion, love, help and defense. She wanted to take away their sufferings and sorrows and pain.
So, Juan Diego, who was around 57-years-old at the time, reported this to the bishop. The bishop, though, was skeptical. He told Juan to bring him some proof of this so-called vision. So, that’s what Juan Diego did. He went to the hill where he found beautiful roses growing in the frozen soil. After picking the roses, he took them to the bishop. When Juan opened his cloak, not only did the roses tumble out, but on the cloak was printed an amazing likeness of the Virgin Mary who had appeared to him. Today, we call the vision, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
From Juan Diego’s message, over 9,000,000 indigenous Mexicans become Catholic Christians. Today, Our Lady of Guadalupe, whose feast day is December 12, is the patron saint of all the Americas.
Juan Diego died in 1548.
Pope St. John Paul II canonized Juan Diego in 2012. St. Juan Diego, whose feast day is December 9, is a patron saint of indigenous people.
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe above is from the Church of San Lorenzo in Alubarén, FM, Honduras, part of the parish of San Francisco de Asís. The Church of San Lorenzo is the oldest of our parish’s many churches, more than 400 years old.
