Our Lady of Guadalupe, also called the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe or Virgen de Guadalupe) is a 16th century Roman Catholic Mexican icon representing an apparition of the Virgin Mary. It is perhaps Mexico's most popular religious and cultural image. Guadalupe's feast day is celebrated on December 12, commemorating the traditional account of her appearances to Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac near Mexico City from December 9, 1531 through December 12, 1531.
The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of significant importance to Catholics. Mainstream Catholics believe that Guadalupe was a manifestation of the Virgin Mary in the Americas and recognize her as "Empress of the Americas." The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the second most visited Roman Catholic shrine in the world.
The Virgin of Guadalupe has also symbolized the Mexican nation since Mexico's War of Independence. Both Miguel Hidalgo and Emiliano Zapata's armies traveled underneath Guadalupan flags, and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is generally recognized as a symbol of all Mexicans. The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes once said that "...one may no longer consider himself a Christian, but you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."[1]
Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote in 1974 that "the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery
The Virgin of Guadalupe is a symbol of significant importance to Catholics. Mainstream Catholics believe that Guadalupe was a manifestation of the Virgin Mary in the Americas and recognize her as "Empress of the Americas." The Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City is the second most visited Roman Catholic shrine in the world.
The Virgin of Guadalupe has also symbolized the Mexican nation since Mexico's War of Independence. Both Miguel Hidalgo and Emiliano Zapata's armies traveled underneath Guadalupan flags, and Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe is generally recognized as a symbol of all Mexicans. The Mexican novelist Carlos Fuentes once said that "...one may no longer consider himself a Christian, but you cannot truly be considered a Mexican unless you believe in the Virgin of Guadalupe."[1]
Nobel laureate Octavio Paz wrote in 1974 that "the Mexican people, after more than two centuries of experiments, have faith only in the Virgin of Guadalupe and the National Lottery
Account of the apparitions
Etching by Jose Guadalupe Posada, depicting St. Juan Diego and image of the Virgin imprinted on the cloth.
Etching by Jose Guadalupe Posada, depicting St. Juan Diego and image of the Virgin imprinted on the cloth.
The image
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is often read as a coded image. Miguel Sanchez, the author of the 1648 tract Imagen de la Virgen María, described the Virgin's image as the Woman of the Apocalypse from the New Testament's Revelation 12:1: "arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Mateo de la Cruz, writing twelve years after Sánchez, argued that "the Guadalupe possessed all the iconographical attributes of Mary in her Immaculate Conception".[4] Likewise, a 1738 sermon preached by Miguel Picazo argued that the Guadalupe was the "best representation" of the Immaculate Conception.[4]
Virgin in a maguey.
Many writers, including Patricia Harrington and Virgilio Elizondo, describe the image as containing coded messages for the indigenous people of Mexico.[5][6]
"The Aztecs...had an elaborate, coherent symbolic system for making sense of their lives. When this was destroyed by the Spaniards, something new was needed to fill the void and make sense of New Spain...the image of Guadalupe served that purpose."[7]
Her blue-green mantle was described as the color once reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl;[8] her belt is read as a sign of pregnancy; and a cross-shaped image symbolizing the cosmos and called nahui-ollin is said to be inscribed beneath the image's sash.[9]
Yet another interpretation of the image is offered by the historian William B. Taylor, who recounted that Guadalupe has also been "acclaimed goddess of the maguey [agave]" and pulque was drunk on her feast day. A 1772 report described the rays of light around Guadalupe as maguey spines
The image of Our Lady of Guadalupe is often read as a coded image. Miguel Sanchez, the author of the 1648 tract Imagen de la Virgen María, described the Virgin's image as the Woman of the Apocalypse from the New Testament's Revelation 12:1: "arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars." Mateo de la Cruz, writing twelve years after Sánchez, argued that "the Guadalupe possessed all the iconographical attributes of Mary in her Immaculate Conception".[4] Likewise, a 1738 sermon preached by Miguel Picazo argued that the Guadalupe was the "best representation" of the Immaculate Conception.[4]
Virgin in a maguey.
Many writers, including Patricia Harrington and Virgilio Elizondo, describe the image as containing coded messages for the indigenous people of Mexico.[5][6]
"The Aztecs...had an elaborate, coherent symbolic system for making sense of their lives. When this was destroyed by the Spaniards, something new was needed to fill the void and make sense of New Spain...the image of Guadalupe served that purpose."[7]
Her blue-green mantle was described as the color once reserved for the divine couple Ometecuhtli and Omecihuatl;[8] her belt is read as a sign of pregnancy; and a cross-shaped image symbolizing the cosmos and called nahui-ollin is said to be inscribed beneath the image's sash.[9]
Yet another interpretation of the image is offered by the historian William B. Taylor, who recounted that Guadalupe has also been "acclaimed goddess of the maguey [agave]" and pulque was drunk on her feast day. A 1772 report described the rays of light around Guadalupe as maguey spines
Documentation
A number of documents support the apparition account. In 1648 Miguel Sanchez, a diocesan priest of Mexico City, published the book Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe. This version was written in Spanish and contains the first presently known account of the Mexican appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Sanchez's story was written mainly for Mexican-born Spaniards and contains long sections of biblical analogy.
However, the most important version of the apparition account may be the Nahuatl-language Huei tlamahuiçoltica ("The Great Event") which contains Nican mopohua ("Here it is recounted"), a tract about the Virgin which contains the aforementioned story. It also includes two other sections: Nican motecpana ("Here is an ordered account") which describes fourteen miracles connected with Our Lady of Guadalupe and Nican tlantica ("Here ends") which gives an account of the Virgin in New Spain. Huei tlamahuiçoltica closely mirrors the Sanchez narrative, but contains no biblical analogies. It is also composed of a more fully developed dialogue due to Nahuatl custom and manners in speech patterns. Huei tlamahuiçoltica is said to have been written by Antonio Valeriano in 1556; it was printed in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.
First page of the Nican Mopohua.
The Codex Escalada, a painting on deerskin which illustrates the apparition and discusses Juan Diego's death, was used during Juan Diego's 1990s canonization process. Critics, including Stafford Poole and David A. Brading, find the document suspicious—partly because of when it was discovered, and partly because it contains the handiwork of both Antonio Valeriano (a man many apparition partisans believe to be the true author of the Nican mopohua) and the signature of Bernardino de Sahagún, the Franciscan missionary and anthropologist. Brading said that:
Codex Escalada.
"Within the context of the Christian tradition, it was rather like finding a picture of St. Paul's vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, drawn by St. Luke and signed by St. Peter".[4]
The apparition account is also supported by a document called the Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666, a collection of oral interviews gathered near Juan Diego's hometown of Cuautitlan. In this document various witnesses affirm, in interview format, details about Juan Diego and the Guadalupan apparition story.
A number of documents support the apparition account. In 1648 Miguel Sanchez, a diocesan priest of Mexico City, published the book Imagen de la Virgen Maria, Madre de Dios de Guadalupe. This version was written in Spanish and contains the first presently known account of the Mexican appearances of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Sanchez's story was written mainly for Mexican-born Spaniards and contains long sections of biblical analogy.
However, the most important version of the apparition account may be the Nahuatl-language Huei tlamahuiçoltica ("The Great Event") which contains Nican mopohua ("Here it is recounted"), a tract about the Virgin which contains the aforementioned story. It also includes two other sections: Nican motecpana ("Here is an ordered account") which describes fourteen miracles connected with Our Lady of Guadalupe and Nican tlantica ("Here ends") which gives an account of the Virgin in New Spain. Huei tlamahuiçoltica closely mirrors the Sanchez narrative, but contains no biblical analogies. It is also composed of a more fully developed dialogue due to Nahuatl custom and manners in speech patterns. Huei tlamahuiçoltica is said to have been written by Antonio Valeriano in 1556; it was printed in Nahuatl by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649.
First page of the Nican Mopohua.
The Codex Escalada, a painting on deerskin which illustrates the apparition and discusses Juan Diego's death, was used during Juan Diego's 1990s canonization process. Critics, including Stafford Poole and David A. Brading, find the document suspicious—partly because of when it was discovered, and partly because it contains the handiwork of both Antonio Valeriano (a man many apparition partisans believe to be the true author of the Nican mopohua) and the signature of Bernardino de Sahagún, the Franciscan missionary and anthropologist. Brading said that:
Codex Escalada.
"Within the context of the Christian tradition, it was rather like finding a picture of St. Paul's vision of Christ on the road to Damascus, drawn by St. Luke and signed by St. Peter".[4]
The apparition account is also supported by a document called the Informaciones Jurídicas de 1666, a collection of oral interviews gathered near Juan Diego's hometown of Cuautitlan. In this document various witnesses affirm, in interview format, details about Juan Diego and the Guadalupan apparition story.
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