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Also known as: Juan Diego
Cuautlatoatzin; Cuauhtlatoatzin
Profile
Born an impoverished free man in a strongly class-conscious society. Farm
worker, field laborer, and mat maker. Married layman with no children. A
mystical and religious man even as a pagan, he became an adult convert to
Christianity around age 50, taking the name Juan Diego. Widower in 1529.
Visionary to whom the Virgin Mary appeared at Guadalupe on 9 December
1531, leaving him the image known as Our Lady of Guadalupe. On 20 December
2001 a second miracle attributed to Juan Diego's intervention was decreed
by the Congregation and approved by Pope John Paul II.
Born: 1474 Tlayacac, Cuauhtitlan (about 15 miles north of modern
Mexico City, Mexico) as Cuauhtlatoatzin
Died: 30 May 1548 of natural causes
Beatified: 9 April 1990 by Pope John Paul II at Vatican City;
confirmed and ceremony held on 6 May 1990 at Mexico City, Mexico
Canonized: 31 July 2002 at the basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe,
Mexico by Pope John Paul II
Name Meaning: eagle that talks (Cuauhtlatoatzin)
Readings
Let not your heart be disturbed. Do not fear that sickness, nor any other
sickness or anguish. Am I not here, who is 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.
- Our Lady to Juan Diego, 9 December 1531
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At the dawn of Mexican evangelization Saint Juan Diego holds a place all
by himself; according to tradition, his indigenous name was Cuauhtlatohuac,
"The eagle who speaks".
His lovable figure is inseparable from the Guadalupe event, the miraculous
maternal manifestation of the Virgin, Mother of God, both in iconographic
and literary memorials as well as in the centuries-old devotion which the
Mexican Church has shown for this Indian so loved by Mary.
Similar to ancient Biblical personages who were collective representations
of all the people, we could say that Juan Diego represents all the
indigenous peoples who accepted the Gospel of Jesus, thanks to the
maternal aid of Mary, who is always inseparable from the manifestation of
her Son and the spread of the Church, as was her presence among the
Apostles on the day of Pentecost.
The information about him that has reached us praises his Christian
virtues: his simple faith, nourished by catechesis and open to the
mysteries; his hope and trust in God and in the Virgin; his love, his
moral coherence, his unselfishness and evangelical poverty.
Living the life of a hermit here near Tepeyac, he was a model of humility.
The Virgin chose him from among the most humble as the one to receive that
loving and gracious manifestation of hers which is the Guadalupe
apparition. Her maternal face and her Saint image which she left us as a
priceless gift is a permanent remembrance of this. In this manner she
wanted to remain among you as a sign of the communion and unity of all
those who were to live together in this land.
The recognition of the cult which for centuries has been paid to the
layman Juan Diego takes on a special importance. It is a strong call to
all the lay faithful of this nation to assume all their responsibilities,
for passing on the Gospel message and witnessing to one faith active and
working in the sphere of Mexican society. From this privileged spot of
Guadalupe, ever-faithful heart of Mexico, I wish to call on all the
Mexican laity, to commit themselves more actively to the re-evangelization
of society.
The lay faithful share in the prophetic, priestly and royal role of Christ
(cf. Lumen Gentium, 31), but they carry out this vocation in the ordinary
situations of daily life. Their natural and immediate field of action
extends to all the areas of human coexistence and to everything that
constitutes culture in the widest and fullest sense of the term. As I
wrote in the Apostolic Exhortation Christifideles Laici: "In order to
achieve their task directed to the Christian animation of the temporal
order, in the sense of serving persons and society, the lay faithful are
never to relinquish their participation in public life, that is, in the
many different economic, social, legislative, administrative and cultural
areas, which are intended to promote organically and institutionally the
common good" (n. 42).
Catholic men and women of Mexico, your Christian vocation is, by its very
nature, a vocation to the apostolate (cf. Apostolicam Actuositatem, 3).
Therefore, you cannot remain indifferent before the suffering of your
brothers and sisters: before the poverty, corruption and outrages
committed against the truth and human rights. You must be the salt of the
earth and the light of the world (cf. Mt 5:13-14). Thus the Lord says once
more to us today: "Let your light shine before men that they may see your
good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5:16).
Juan Diego too shines before you, raised by the Church to the honors of
the altar; we can invoke him as the protector and the advocate of the
indigenous peoples.
- Pope John Paul II at the beatification of Saint Juan Diego, 6 May 1990
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintjem.htm
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