Our Lady of Guadalupe
In 1521, the Aztec empire was conquered by the Spanish conquistadors in the city that is presently known as Mexico City. The Aztec people, and numerous surrounding civilizations, followed a polytheistic religion that appeased the gods with human sacrifice. With the arrival of the Spanish, this belief system quickly changed, as the Spanish felt that converting the heathens was of utmost priority. Catholicism was strongly enforced; among many other cultural and traditional changes. On December 9, 1531, a "lady from heaven," now referred to as Our Lady of Guadalupe, appeared before a 55 year old Indian named Juan Diego at Tepeyac, a hill outside of Mexico City. She proclaimed to be the mother of the "true God," and instructed him to have the bishop build a temple on top of this hill. Bishop Zumarraga was skeptical of of Diego's encounter, and asked for a sign from Our Lady of Guadalupe. On December 12, 1531, Diego had an uncle, Bernadino, who was very sick and could not be cured with tradition indian remedies. He he left for the convent to get a priest w
Pope Benedict XIV decreed that Our Lady of Guadalupe should be the national patron, and made December 12 a holiday of obligation, and ordered a special mass to honor the occasion which is still celebrated to this day. She arranged the rocks and roses and asked that he not look at her arrangment until he showed the bishop. Diego asked Our Lady of Guadalupe for the sign that the bishop requested. She instructed him to gather rocks and roses. I try to live my life by the morals and ethics that Catholisicm teaches, but I'm not so sure that I believe in the miracles that Our Lady of Guadalupe claims to give. An estimated amount of 10 million people visit the reliquary in Mexico City where the tilma is currently housed. The popularity of this reliquary has drawn the highest of religious figures, including 24 popes as well as John Paul II who visited the church four different times. He obtained the requested items in his tilma, a poor quality cactus cloth used by Mexican Indians as a long cloak. Diego was startled to see the bishop and his attendants kneeling before him. To me it is just a farytale that people like to believe because they are discomforted with the idea that they don't know why or how 4they are here. It is constructed of two pieces of the coarsely woven material that was sewn together, and is seventy inches long by eighteen wide. " The main colors used are a deep gold in the rays radiating from the stars, blue green in the mantle, and red used in the flowers of the tunic. Numerous people have proclaimed to have experienced miracles, cures, and interventions as a result of the witnessing this relic. The life size figure of the Virgin Mother, just as Juan had described her, was glowing on the tilma.
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