Our Lady of Guadalupe Feast Day
Historically, traveling with Spanish conquistadors to Mexico and beyond, the efforts of missionaries to convert native Indians from paganism to Christianity were not very successful. A series of apparitions changed all of that, with the Virgin Mary's appearances to a humble Aztec Indian in 1531. The Catholic feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe, on December 12, celebrates these apparitions which became a powerful catalyst for a conversion still evident in today's 90% Catholic population in Mexico, Central and South America.
The significance of events launching the conversion is remarkable. Our Lady of Guadalupe's day is now the third most important religious celebration in Mexico and Central/South America, after Christmas and Easter. What transpired to bring such inspiration to that part of the world?
An Aztec Indian widower, Cuauhtlatoatzin, renamed Juan Diego, one of few baptized into Christianity along with his uncle, Juan Bernardino, with whom he lived, had turned his life towards God. Going to church on Saturday morning, December 9, in current day Mexico City, he passed Tepeyac, the hill where an ancient temple commemorating the Aztec mother god had stood. There, he encountered a vision of a beautiful Indian girl surrounded by light beams. In his native Indian language, calling herself the Virgin Mary, Mother of God, she instructed him to inform the bishop that a church in her honor should be built on the site. Juan Diego did her bidding, but the bishop was unwilling to make any commitments.
Returning hillside, Juan Diego was told by the waiting apparition to deliver her request again. On Sunday, he did so, only to be told that the bishop needed a sign. For the third time, the apparition appeared to Juan Diego, asking him to return the next morning for the sign. He didn't return then, but instead, stayed with his gravely ill uncle, whom he thought was dying.
On Tuesday, while searching for a priest for his uncle, he passed the hill on the opposite side to avoid the apparition. Nonetheless, she intercepted him; in her fourth appearance, she asked that he climb uphill and pick some flowers for her instead of summoning a priest, as his uncle would not die. Shocked at the thought of flowers in December, he complied and was astounded by beautiful blooms. Gathering them in his cape, he was asked to deliver this sign to the bishop.
Before the bishop's eyes, the cape was opened. The flowers fell, and the fabric revealed the image of the beautiful Indian girl surrounded by light beams as she'd appeared. Belief and rejoicing ensued, with the chapel completed on the hilltop site by Christmas Day! Meanwhile, a fifth appearance had been made. Concurrently, with the cape's revelation, the Virgin appeared to Juan Bernardino, promising good health and asking to be called Our Lady of Guadalupe, a significant name depicting a Marian shrine in Spain unknown to the natives.
Nowadays, on this eventful date, December 12th, there are festivities, parades, parties, processions and visitations to churches and chapels throughout Mexico, Central and South America. Visits to statues and shrines of Our Lady of Guadalupe honor her as the Patroness of Mexico and the continental Americas. In Mexico City, likenesses adorn everything from bakeries to bus stops. On her feast day, it's not surprising that millions of pilgrims visit the hilltop shrine, making it the most visited Catholic pilgrimage site worldwide.
Dark-skinned, Our Lady of Guadalupe's appearances to an Indian, speaking his language at a previous site of Aztec worship, then communicating by Indian-favored picture imagery, all undoubtedly influenced the embracing of Catholicism. It is reported that 8 million Aztecs were converted within just years of the visions, cementing her place forever in religious culture. Especially in Mexico today, Our Lady of Guadalupe is considered a unifying element for the blended races and religions from which a disparate nation has emerged.
