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Also known as: Holy Mary
of Guadalupe; Virgin of Guadalupe; Maria de Guadalupe
Guadalupe is, strictly speaking, the name of a picture, but the name was
extended to the church containing the picture and to the town that grew up
around the church. It makes the shrine, it occasions the devotion, it
illustrates Our Lady. It is taken as representing the Immaculate
Conception, being the lone figure of the woman with the sun, moon, and
star accompaniments of the great apocalyptic sign with a supporting angel
under the crescent. The word is Spanish Arabic, but in Mexico it may
represent certain Aztec sounds.
Its tradition is long-standing and constant, and in sources both oral and
written, Indian and Spanish, the account is unwavering. The Blessed Virgin
appeared on Saturday 9 December 1531 to a 55 year old neophyte named Juan
Diego, who was hurrying down Tepeyac hill to hear Mass in Mexico City. She
sent him to Bishop Zumárraga to have a temple built where she stood. She
was at the same place that evening and Sunday evening to get the bishop's
answer. The bishop did not immediately believe the messenger, had him
cross-examined and watched, and he finally told him to ask the lady who
said she was the mother of the true God for a sign. The neophyte agreed
readily to ask for the sign desired, and the bishop released him.
Juan was occupied all Monday with Bernardino, an uncle, who was dying of
fever. Indian medicine had failed, and Bernardino seemed at death's door.
At daybreak on Tuesday 12 December 1531, Juan ran to nearby Saint James's
convent for a priest. To avoid the apparition and the untimely message to
the bishop, he slipped round where the well chapel now stands. But the
Blessed Virgin crossed down to meet him and said, "What road is this thou
takest son?" A tender dialogue ensued. She reassured Juan about his uncle,
to whom she also briefly appeared and instantly cured. Calling herself
Holy Mary of Guadalupe she told Juan to return to the bishop. He asked for
the sign he required. Mary told him to go to the rocks and gather roses.
Juan knew it was neither the time nor the place for roses, but he went and
found them. Gathering many into the lap of his tilma, a long cloak or
wrapper used by Mexican Indians, he came back. The Holy Mother rearranged
the roses, and told him to keep them untouched and unseen until he reached
the bishop. When he met with Zumárraga, Juan offered the sign to the
bishop. As he unfolded his cloak the roses, fresh and wet with dew, fell
out. Juan was startled to see the bishop and his attendants kneeling
before him. The life size figure of the Virgin Mother, just as Juan had
described her, was glowing on the tilma. The picture was venerated,
guarded in the bishop's chapel, and soon after carried in procession to
the preliminary shrine.
The coarsely woven material of the tilma which bears the picture is as
thin and open as poor sacking. It is made of vegetable fiber, probably
maguey. It consists of two strips, about seventy inches long by eighteen
wide, held together by weak stitching. The seam is visible up the middle
of the figure, turning aside from the face. Painters have not understood
the laying on of the colors. They have deposed that the "canvas" was not
only unfit but unprepared, and they have marveled at apparent oil, water,
distemper, etc. coloring in the same figure. They are left in equal
admiration by the flower-like tints and the abundant gold. They and other
artists find the proportions perfect for a maiden of fifteen. The figure
and the attitude are of one advancing. There is flight and rest in the
eager supporting angel. The chief colors are deep gold in the rays and
stars, blue green in the mantle, and rose in the flowered tunic.
Sworn evidence was given at various commissions of inquiry corroborating
the traditional account of the miraculous origin and influence of the
picture. Some wills connected with Juan Diego and his contemporaries were
accepted as documentary evidence. Vouchers were given for the existence of
Bishop Zumárraga's letter to his Franciscan brethren in Spain concerning
the apparitions. His successor, Montufar, instituted a canonical inquiry,
in 1556, on a sermon in which the pastors and people were abused for
crowding to the new shrine. In 1568 the renowned historian Bernal Díaz, a
companion of Cortez, refers incidentally to Guadalupe and its daily
miracles. The lay viceroy, Enríquez, while not opposing the devotion,
wrote in 1575 to Philip II asking him to prevent the third archbishop from
erecting a parish and monastery at the shrine. Inaugural pilgrimages were
usually made to it by viceroys and other chief magistrates. Processes,
national and ecclesiastical, were laboriously formulated and attested for
presentation at Rome in 1663, 1666, 1723, 1750.
The clergy, secular and regular, has been remarkably faithful to the
devotion towards Our Lady of Guadalupe, the bishops especially fostering
it, even to the extent of making a protestation of faith in the miracle a
matter of occasional obligation. Pope Benedict XIV decreed that Our Lady
of Guadalupe should be the national patron, and made 12 December a holiday
of obligation with an octave, and ordered a special Mass and Office. Pope
Leo XIII approved a complete historical second Nocturne, ordered the
picture to be crowned in his name, and composed a poetical inscription for
it. Pope Pius X permitted Mexican priests to say the Mass of Holy Mary of
Guadalupe on the twelfth day of every month, and granted indulgences which
may be gained in any part of the world for prayer before a copy of the
picture.
The place, called Guadalupe Hidalgo since 1822, is three miles northeast
of Mexico City. Pilgrimages have been made to this shrine almost without
interruption since 1531-1532. A shrine at the foot of Tepeyac Hill served
for ninety years, and still forms part of the parochial sacristy. In 1622
a rich shrine was erected, and in 1709 a newer even richer one. There are
also a parish church, a convent and church for Capuchin nuns, a well
chapel, and a hill chapel all constructed in the 18th century. About 1750
the shrine got the title of collegiate, a canonry and choir service being
established. It was aggregated to Saint John Lateran in 1754. In 1904 it
was created a basilica, with the presiding ecclesiastic being called
abbot. The shrine has been renovated in Byzantine style which presents an
illustration of Guadalupan history.
- taken from the Catholic Encyclopedia article by G Lee, copyright 1911,
Nihil Obstat, 1 February 1911. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor; Imprimatur.
+John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York; edited and rewritten
Patronage
Americas, Central America, diocese of Colorado Springs Colorado, diocese
of Corpus Christi Texas, diocese of Dodge City, Kansas, Estremadura Spain,
diocese of Gallup New Mexico, Mexico, diocese of Nashville Tennessee, New
Mexico, New World, diocese of Orange California, diocese of Phoenix
Arizona, Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, diocese of Sacramento, California,
diocese of Sioux City Iowa, Spain
source:
http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/mary0003.htm |
