Our Lady of Guadalupe

Their story

In December 1531, ten years after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec capital, the Virgin Mary appeared on Tepeyac Hill, near present-day Mexico City, to St. Juan Diego, a humble Indigenous man who had recently been baptized. She spoke to him in his own language, called him her dearest son, and asked that a church be built there so that she could show her love and compassion to all who came to her. When the bishop asked for a sign, Mary sent Juan Diego to gather roses blooming on the hilltop in winter. When he opened his tilma, his cloak, before the bishop on December 12, the roses fell out, and an image of Mary was revealed on the fabric. The image is full of meaning that the Indigenous people could read: she stands before the sun, on the moon, clothed with a mantle of stars, her hands folded in prayer, and the black band at her waist is a sign that she is with child. She is not a goddess but the Mother of the true God, who brings his Son to the people. In the years that followed, millions of Indigenous people embraced the faith. The tilma is still displayed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world. She is patroness of the Americas and of the unborn.