Michael October - November

Juan Diego then returned to the Blessed Virgin,

and related to Her the Bishop’s answer. Smiling, she

said to him:

“Well and good, My little dear. You will

return here tomorrow so you can take to the Bishop

the sign he has requested. With this he will believe

you, and in this regard he will not doubt you, nor

will he be suspicious of you. And know, My little

dear, that I will reward your solicitude and effort

and fatigue spent on My behalf. Lo! Go now. I will

await you here tomorrow.”

The “sign”

The following day was

December 12th. Juan Diego

was unable to return to the

Tepeyac hilltop because his

uncle Juan Bernardino had

become gravely ill. Juan

summoned a doctor, but by

nightfall his uncle requested

that he go instead to Tla-

tilolco early the following

morning to summon a priest

to hear his confession. Be-

fore dawn, Juan Diego set

out for Tlatilolco and as he

approached the road which

joins the slope to the Tep-

eyac hilltop, he decided to

make a small detour. He

was ashamed for not having

kept his promise to return to

the Lady and he wished to

avoid having to meet with

her again. But, as he came

around to the other side of

the hill, there She stood as

though She were waiting

for him. She said to him:

“What’s there, My son the

least ? Where are you go-

ing?”

He bowed before Her,

saying:

“Lady, I am going to

cause You grief. Know that a

servant of Yours is very sick,

my uncle. He has contracted

the plague, and is near

death. I am hurrying to Your

house in Mexico to call one of Your priests, beloved

by Our Lord, to hear his confession and absolve him,

because, since we were born, we were taught to pre-

pare for death. But if I go, I shall return here soon, so I

may go to deliver Your message. Lady, forgive me, be

patient with me for the time being. I will not deceive

You. Tomorrow I will come in all haste.”

After hearing this the Most Holy Virgin an-

swered:

“Hear Me and understand well, My son the

least, that nothing should frighten nor grieve you.

Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that

sickness, nor any other sickness or anguish. Am I

not here, who am your Mother ? Are you not under

My protection? Am I not your health? Are you not

happily within My fold? What else do you wish? Do

not grieve nor be disturbed by anything. Do not be

afflicted by the illness of your uncle, who will not

die now from it. Be assured that he is now cured.”

Juan Diego’s uncle Juan Bernardino was in fact

cured of his disease at that

very moment. Our Lady told

Juan Bernardino that she

wished to be known under

the title,

“Santa Maria Te-

coa-tla-xope”

. In the Aztec

language

“Coa”

meaning

serpent,

“tla”

being the noun

ending which can be inter-

preted as “the”, while

“xo-

peuh”

means to crush or

stamp out. He later told this

word to the Spaniards, who

heard it as “de Guadalupe”,

a devotion to the Blessed

Mother in Estremadura,

Spain that the Spanish were

very familiar with. (This is

how the image was named

Guadalupe, a title which it

has kept for over four cen-

turies.) But in reality it would

seem that Our Lady must

have called Herself

“Santa

Maria who crushes the ser-

pent.”

When Juan Diego was

told that his uncle was

cured, he was greatly con-

soled and begged the Lady

from Heaven to excuse him

so that he could now go dir-

ectly to the Bishop in order

to bring him Her “sign” that

he too could now believe.

The Lady from Heaven or-

dered him:

“Climb, My son

the least, to the top of the

hill where you saw Me and I gave you orders. You

will find different flowers. Cut them, gather them,

assemble them, and then come and bring them be-

fore My presence.”

Immediately, Juan Diego climbed the hill and

to his amazement found many different varieties of

exquisite Castilian roses blooming there. The hilltop

was no place for any kind of flowers to grow. It had

many crags, thistles, thorns, and mesquites. Occa-

sionally weeds would grow, but... this was Decem-

ber, a time when roses or most any vegetation would

ordinarily freeze ! These roses were very fragrant and

they were covered with dewdrops which resembled

precious pearls. Immediately he began to cut them,

placing them inside his tilma. Coming down the hill

he presented them to the Lady from Heaven who

took them, and with Her own hands rearranged them

inside his tilma, saying:

“My

son the least, this diversity

of roses is the proof and the

sign which you will take to

the Bishop. You will tell him

in My name that he will see

in them My wish, and that

he will have to comply to

it. You are My ambassador,

most worthy of all confi-

dence! Rigorously, I com-

mand you that only before

the presence of the Bishop

will you unfold your mantle

and disclose what you are

carrying. You will relate all

and well; you will tell that

I ordered you to climb to

the hilltop, to go and cut

flowers, and all that you saw

and admired, so you can in-

duce the prelate to give his

support, with the aim that a

temple be built and erected

as I have asked.”

When Juan Diego took

leave of Our Lady, he felt

happy that with a gift such

as this, he was sure of suc-

cess. It was with great care

that he held onto the pre-

cious flowers which he bore in his tilma, and enjoyed

their beautiful fragrance as he hurried along the road

eager to present the Bishop with the “sign.”

The miraculous image

Juan Diego reached the Bishop’s palace, and

once again waited a long time before finally being

admitted to see him. Upon entering he knelt before

Close-up of the face of the Virgin Mary on Juan

Diego's tilma. The tilma should have deteriorated

within 20 years but shows no sign of decay after

over 470 years. It to this day defies all scientific

explanations of its origin. In the eyes of Mary (only

about 1/3rd inch in size), tiny human figures were

discovered that no artist could have painted. Using

digital technology, the images in the eyes were

enlarged many times, revealing that each eye re-

flected the figure of the Indian Juan Diego opening

his tilma in front of Bishop Zumarraga.

Bishop Zumarraga and told him that he had brought

with him the “sign” from the Lady – roses picked high

on the hilltop of Tepeyac. He then unfolded his mantle

and all the different varieties of roses scattered onto

the floor. But even more amazing than the beautiful

roses was the image that suddenly appeared on the

tilma. It was that of the Ever-Virgin, Holy Mary, Moth-

er of God. When the Bishop

saw the image, he and all

who were present fell to their

knees. The Bishop, with sor-

rowful tears, prayed and

begged forgiveness of the

Blessed Virgin for not having

believed and for his delay in

attending to Her wishes and

request. When he rose to his

feet, he untied the cloth on

which appeared the image of

the Lady from Heaven from

around Juan Diego’s neck.

He then took it and placed

it in his own private chapel

where he kept it until the new

Church was erected on the

grounds that had been desig-

nated by the Mother of God.

Juan Diego, after hav-

ing given his business and

property over to his uncle

Juan Bernardino, moved into

a small room attached to the

chapel that housed the sacred

image. He deeply loved Our

Lord in the Holy Eucharist,

and by special permission

of the Bishop, he received

Holy Communion three times

a week, which was a highly unusual occurrence for

those times. He spent the rest of his life propagat-

ing the account of the Apparitions to his countrymen,

and died on May 30, 1548, at the age of 74. Today this

same image imprinted on the tilma continues to be

venerated by the faithful and is viewed by an estimat-

ed 10 million pilgrims annually in the present Basilica

of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico.

The shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, with the newest basilica on the left, built in 1976.

MICHAEL October/November/December 2013