Our Lady of Guadalupe

I find this image of the Blessed Virgin Mary to be extraordinarily beautiful. The story behind it can be found (among many other places) on the Saint of the Day web site, where one reads the following:

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name Juan Diego. He was a 57-year-old widower and lived in a small village near Mexico City. On Saturday morning, December 9, 1531, he was on his way to a nearby barrio to attend Mass in honor of Our Lady.

He was walking by a hill called Tepeyac when he heard beautiful music like the warbling of birds. A radiant cloud appeared and within it a young Native American maiden dressed like an Aztec princess. The lady spoke to him in his own language and sent him to the bishop of Mexico, a Franciscan named Juan de Zumarraga. The bishop was to build a chapel in the place where the lady appeared.

Eventually the bishop told Juan Diego to have the lady give him a sign. About this same time Juan Diego’s uncle became seriously ill. This led poor Diego to try to avoid the lady. The lady found Diego, nevertheless, assured him that his uncle would recover and provided roses for Juan to carry to the bishop in his cape or tilma.

When Juan Diego opened his tilma in the bishop’s presence, the roses fell to the ground and the bishop sank to his knees. On Juan Diego’s tilma appeared an image of Mary as she had appeared at the hill of Tepeyac. It was December 12, 1531.

Until this, the evangelization of the Aztecs and other natives of Mexico not been particularly easy or successful. Afterwards, we are told, the stories of this apparition led to an outpouring of baptisms and the people of Mexico would be Catholic -- though how well Mexicans were catechized is a matter of considerable debate.

The original image can be found to this day at the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Only St. Peter's at the Vatican receives more pilgrims. This explanation of of the image is interesting:

The Image of Our Lady is actually an Aztec Pictograph which was read and understood quickly by the Aztec Indians.

1. THE LADY STOOD IN FRONT OF THE SUN
She was greater than the dreaded Huitzilopochtli, their sun-god of war.

2. HER FOOT RESTED ON THE CRESCENT MOON
She had clearly crushed Quetzalcoatl, the feathered serpent moon-god.

3. THE STARS STREWN ACROSS THE MANTLE
She was greater than the stars of heaven which they worshipped. She was a virgin and the Queen of the heavens for Virgo rests over her womb and the northern crown upon her head. She appeared on December 12, 1531 and the stars that she wore are the constellations of the stars that appeared in the sky that day!

4. THE BLUE‑GREEN HUE OF HER MANTLE
She was a Queen because she wears the color of royalty.

5. THE BLACK CROSS ON THE BROOCH AT HER NECK
Her God was that of the Spanish Missionaries, Jesus Christ her son who died on the cross for all mankind.

6. THE BLACK BELT
She was with child because she wore the Aztec Maternity Belt.

7. THE FOUR PETAL FLOWER OVER THE WOMB
She was the Mother of God because the flower was a special symbol of life, movement and deity-the center of the universe.

8. HER HANDS ARE JOINED IN PRAYER
She was not God but clearly there was one greater than Her and she pointed her finger to the cross on her brooch.

9. THE DESIGN ON HER ROSE COLORED GARMENT
She is the Queen of the Earth because she is wearing a contour map of Mexico telling the Indians exactly where the apparition took place.

More about Juan Diego's tilma and the image on it can be found here. La Virgen de Guadalupe has certainly been subjected to the excesses of Marian piety. Yet she remains an extraordinary image of the Mother of Our Lord, the Bearer of God (Theotokos).