Teaching Materials - Lesson - a Comparison of Images

The Virgin of Guadalupe

1 Our Lady of Guadalupe is in many ways to the Mexicans what Gwan Yin is to the Chinese. They both symbolize the perfect mother. They listen to the prayers of the needy, comfort those who suffer, heal those who are sick. This is Our Lady of Guadalupe's story.

2 The legend begins in 1531, only ten years after the Spanish conquistadors had subjugated the Valley of Mexico and had introduced Christianity. An Indian who lived in the little village of Totpetlac had recently been baptized and had changed his name from Quauhtlatohua to Juan Diego. On the morning of December 9, 1531, he was walking from his village to Tlaltelolco, which was just north of Mexico City, to attend Mass and to receive religious instruction. His route passed the barren mound of Tepeyac on which nothing grew except stunted shrubs and a host of cacti. He was much depressed, as he walked along, for the Spaniards had destroyed the temple of Tonantzin, and not being quite certain which was the true faith, he was afraid that he might have displeased his native Indian goddess. Upon reaching one of the most desolate places on the side of the hill, Juan was startled and terrified to hear beautiful strains of wondrous music coming from the mountainside.

3 Automatically crossing himself, for he had acquired this custom, he looked up from the trail and beheld a strange sight. He saw an arc of glorious light. In its very center, he beheld a beautiful lady, who was dressed in flowing white robes. Her lovely countenance eased his sense of fear, and she spoke in soft gentle tones that assured him of her kindliness, "Hijo mio" ("my son"), come near to me."

4 He drew nearer and fell upon his knees, for it was now plain to him that she was the Virgin. She said that she wished him to go to the bishop and tell him that it was her desire that a temple be built in her honor on that very hill and that from that day forward she would be the protectress of all the Indians of Mexico.

5 The poor Indian pondered over what he had seen for only a brief moment. He then hurried to the Church of Santiago at Tlaltelolco where he told his story to the bishop, Fray Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop listened incredulously to the Indian's story, then told him that he did not believe the tale and sent him away.

6 Sorrowfully, Juan returned to the place where the Virgin had appeared to him and found her waiting. He told her that the bishop had not believed him, and she directed him to come again on the following day. The next day was the Sabbath, and Juan again went up the hill of Tepeyac. Again the Virgin appeared to him with the order that he go a second time to take the message to the bishop.

7 But the bishop was still unconvinced, thinking that the Holy Mother would not consider using such a poor and humble Indian for sending so important a message, and he told the man that he must bring some unmistakable token to prove that what he said was true.

8 The Indian departed, and the bishop ordered two spies to follow and watch where he went and to see with whom he talked. But as the Indian rounded the hill, he suddenly disappeared, and, thought the two spies searched the hill thoroughly, they could not find him. They therefore returned to the bishop and told him what had happened and that in their opinion Juan Diego was possessed of the devil and was guilty of witchcraft.

9 Not knowing what had happened, Juan continued to the place where he had met the Virgin. There again she appeared to the place where he had met the Virgin. There again she appeared to him. He reported that the bishop still did not believe him and had commanded that he return with some definite token to prove beyond all doubt the truth of her commands. She reflected a moment and then said that if he would return to her on the following morning, a token would be given hem that the bishop would immediately recognize.

10 But when Juan arose the next morning, he found that his uncle, an old man called Juan Bernardino, was critically ill with the fever (called cocolixtli by the Aztecs) and that he must stay at home to attend him. During the day the old man steadily became worse, and the next day, which was the twelfth of December, Juan saw that his uncle was near the point of death, so he set off to the Church of Santiago in Tlaltelolco to get a priest to come and hear the dying man's confession. Fearing that if he again met the lady, he would be delayed and his uncle would die unconfessed, he took another route around the hill of Tepeyac.

11 He had not gone far, however, when he saw her approaching, surrounded by the arc of light. Conscious-stricken for not having obeyed her orders, he fell to his knees and begged her forgiveness. But she told him not to worry, for at that moment his uncle had been healed of his sickness and was now completely well. She bade him go up the hill a little way where he would find a garden of roses and to gather and bring some of the blossoms to her, wrapped in his cloak. Her command gave a great shock to Juan, for he was well acquainted with the hill and knew that it was completely barren except for the cacti and that certainly there was no garden of roses growing anywhere near. But he obeyed her command and had walked only a short distance when he came to a miraculous garden of roses just as she had described. Gathering the flowers, he wrapped them in the folds of his cloak and returned down the hill to where she was standing. She took the bundle in her arms and blessed it; then, giving it to the Indian, she told him to take the blossoms to the bishop but to be certain that no one else looked upon the roses.

12 Tenderly, he gathered up the flowers in his cloak and started off for the house of the bishop. But he had taken only a few steps when he heard a strange sound like that of the trickling of a little brook and turning around on the trail, he saw that the Virgin had disappeared but that exactly where she had stood a spring of clear water had burst forth from the ground. Amazed, he hurried, to the house of the bishop.

13 "Again the Sainted Virgin appeared to me, my Father, and she bade me gather roses from the hill of Tepeyac where none have ever grown before and bring them to you wrapped in my tilma ("cloak"). And she said, "Tell the holy bishop that they are proud of me and that I desire that a church be built and dedicated to the Virgin of Guadalupe."

14 Then he unfolded the tilma, letting the roses fall to the floor, and there, miraculously painted on the cloak was the figure of the Virgin herself. Its colors were brilliantly impregnated into the cloth, and it was at once clear to the bishop that no human hands had done the work.

15 The Virgin was of dark complexion. Her features were unmistakably similar to those of an Indian maiden. Her eyes were downcast, but the face was sweet and serene. She was clothed in a rose-shaded, flowing gown marked with gold, while over the gown she wore a long cloak of bluish velvet embroidered with golden stars. A golden cross was suspended from her throat.

16 The amazed bishop, realizing that he had witnessed a miracle, fell to his knees in veneration of the Virgin, then arose and placed the sacred cloak in the oratory of the church. The Indian returned home and found his uncle well again. He had been cured exactly at the moment when the Virgin had spoken her words of encouragement.

17 The following day the bishop, accompanied by a large train of churchmen, visited the house of Juan and spoke to the man who had been miraculously healed. Guided by the Indian, they visited the spot where the Virgin had spoken to him and where the spring of clear water now flowed, and there the bishop and the priests prayed to the Virgin and promised her that a church would be built on the hill of Tepeyac, just as she had ordered.

18 The news of the miracle spread rapidly throughout the whole of Mexico. Great crowds of people came to the palace of the bishop to see the painting of the Holy Virgin on the Tilma of the poor Indian. So great were the crowds that the bishop had to take the cloak to the great cathedral in the City of Mexico in order that all might see it; and so many converts came to the little hill of Tepeyac that there were not enough priests to baptize them.

19 The bishop took charge of the situation, and within three months a shrine had been constructed over the exact spot indicated by the Virgin. The tilma with its holy image was then placed over thealter and the people continued to visit the shrine. Spaniards called it Our Lady of Guadalupe, in honor of the Geronimite Convent of Guadalupe in Spain, but to the Indian it was La Virgen India de Tepeyac (the Indian Virgin of Tepeyac). Juan Diego became an attendant of the shrine and remained in the home of the Virgin until his death in 1548.

20 The Shrine of the Virgin of Guadalupe has become a national shrine and, more important, its Virgin is the patron saint of the Mexican Indian. During the centuries since the founding of the little chapel on its summit, it has been the place toward which the Indians have turned for spiritual consolation. To their shrine they come during all the seasons of the year, from all parts of the country.

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