Michael October - November

Our Lady of Guadalupe

“Empress of the Americas”

Louis Even

It is the year 1521, Tenochtitlan (which is now

Mexico City), the capital city of the Aztec empire, falls

to Spanish forces. Ten years later 9 million inhabitants

of this land, who had for centuries professed a poly-

theistic and human-sacrificing religion, were suddenly

converted to Christianity. What was it that happened

in those times that produced such an incredible and

historically unprecedented conversion?

The Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to a poor and

humble Indian at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of Mexico

City. She identified Herself as the Mother of the True

God, Santa Maria of Guadalupe or Te-coa-tla-xope”,

(pronounced phonetically “te-quat-la-shupe) which

in the Aztec tongue means “the one who crushes the

head of the serpent”. Undoubtedly she came to crush

the serpent, as it is written in the Book of Genesis,

3:15 “...

she shall crush thy head...”,

by putting an end

to these barbaric human sacrifices, and literally con-

verting millions of natives to Christianity.

Background and setting of these events

The Aztecs ruled most of Central America.

he two

chief gods of the Aztec pantheon were Huitzilopochtli,

the Hummingbird Wizard or “god of thirst”, called the

Lover of Hearts and Drinker of Blood; and Tezcatlipoca,

the Smoking Mirror Lord of the Dark, called “He Who

is at the Shoulder as the Tempter”. The Aztecs be-

lieved that the gods required human blood in order to

subsist and in order to appease these frightful deities,

their priests sacrificed at least 50,000 men, women,

and children annually by cutting out their beating

hearts. Years of practice had given them a skill and

speed that enabled them to perform this gruesome

task on each victim in less than 15 seconds ! The early

Mexican historian, Ixtlilxochitl, estimated that one out

of every five children in Mexico was sacrificed. (Note:

In the United States today it is even more; one out of

every four children is killed by abortion.)

The climax of these ritual killings came in 1487

for the dedication of the new, and richly decorated

temple of Huitzilopochtli in the center of Tenochtitlan

(now Mexico City), and enclosed by the richly decor-

ated Coatepantli, the Serpant Wall. In a single cere-

mony that lasted for four days and four nights, with

the constant beating of giant drums made of snake-

skin, the Aztec ruler and demon worshiper, Tlacael-

lel, presided over the sacrifice of more than 80,000

men. (For more information on the Aztec worship,

please see

Our Lady of Guadalupe and the Conquest

of Darkness

, by Dr. Warren Carroll.)

Montezuma, or Moctezuma, as some called him,

was ruler of the Aztec Nation, chief priest and head of

their army. His sister, Princess Papantzin, had a dream

that deeply troubled the King. In her dream she saw

a luminous being with a black cross on his forehead

who led her to a shore with large ships. These ships

would soon come to their own shores and conquer

the Aztecs, bringing with them the Faith in the One

True God. Ten years later, on Good Friday, April 22,

1519, the Spanish Conquistadors arrived on the Gulf

shore of Mexico led by Hernando Cortez. They named

the landing place Veracruz or “The True Cross”. Their

Chaplain, Father Bartolome de Olmedo, celebrated

the first Mass there on Easter Sunday.

Within two years, with a small army of a few

hundred soldiers, under the twofold protection of

the Cross of Our Lord and the Blessed Virgin Mary,

whose image Cortez had carried over with him on his

voyage from Spain, and through a series of miracu-

lous victories, the Aztecs were defeated and the prac-

tice of human sacrifice was finally brought to an end.

Cortez’s first action as commander was to place the

region under the Spanish crown and to demolish the

temples of sacrifice, building in their place Catholic

churches, such as the Church Santiago (or St. James)

de Tlatelolco on the site of the Temple of the sun god

in present-day Mexico City.

Unfortunately, some of the

Conquistadors were

not “saints”. Much like many of the Crusaders, they

were in search of God, fortune, and personal glory,

but oftentimes it was more the fortune and personal

glory that became their goal. The Native Americans

were treated very unjustly and suffered much abuse

at the hands of their Spanish conquerors. With the

hostility that was shown to these people by the new

colonial government, they distrusted the Spanish.

This caused them to be wary of converting to Chris-

tianity, impelling the newly appointed bishop-elect,

A temple in Mexico that was used to worship the “sun-god”

MICHAEL October/November/December 2013