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Our Lady of Guadalupe feast shows Latin American pride, identity

Christine Stoddard | Catholic Herald

The Chapel of Our Lady of Guadalupe is seen at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington.

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All of the tensions between races, religions and cultures
that took place when the English settled in Virginia were a
repeat of what had happened in Mexico nearly a century
earlier. The Spanish conquistadors did not receive a warm
welcome from the indigenous people of Mexico. The Aztecs
rejected Spanish customs, including Catholicism, because
these ideas and traditions struck them as foreign and
invasive.

Motecuhzoma, the ruler of Tenochtitlan, Mexico, during the
first Mexican contact with Europeans, may have taken the
Spanish for “gods” because of their white skin and facial
hair, but he did not trust them.

In Codex Florentino, Benedictine priest Bernardino de
Sahagún wrote, “Motecuhzoma (sent his) magicians to
learn what sort of people the strangers might be, but they
were also to see if they could work some charm against them,
or do them some mischief. They might be able to direct a
harmful wind against them, or cause them to break out in
sores, or injure them in some way. Or they might be able to
repeat some enchanted word, over and over, that would cause
them to fall sick, or die, or return to their own land.”

In 1521, Hernán Cortés and his men conquered
Mexico. Shortly thereafter, Franciscan missionaries arrived
from Spain and began their evangelization efforts. Dominicans
and Augustinians followed. The missionaries built hospitals,
schools and other amenities as a means to convert the
Mexicans, but one of the biggest influencers in indigenous
conversion was an apparition witnessed by Juan Diego, an
Aztec convert.

Legend has it that on Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego was on his way
to Mass when he heard a faint melody. Out of nowhere came a
lovely lady calling his name. Speaking Nahuatl, the language
of the Aztecs, she identified herself as the Virgin Mary and
promised to help Juan Diego’s people, but she also made a
request: that Juan Diego go to the bishop, tell him of his
vision and ask that a shrine be built in Mary’s name. Juan
Diego went to the bishop but was met with doubt. The bishop
said he could not approve the construction of a shrine unless
Juan Diego offered proof of his vision.

On Dec. 12, Mary reappeared before Juan Diego and asked him
to collect roses in his cloak. Juan Diego did as he was told
and took the roses to the bishop. When he opened the cloak,
the roses fell to the floor and revealed a picture of Mary
printed on the cloth. She looked like an indigenous lady, not
a Spanish one. The origin of the word “Guadalupe” remains
unknown and may or may not be a transliteration of a Nahuatl
word.

Today the Guadalupe shrine claims to have Juan Diego’s
original cloak on display. La Villa de Guadalupe, a complex
of two basilicas, three chapels, a cemetery and other
religious sites, sits at the foot of Tepeyac Hill, three
miles northeast of Mexico City. The old basilica opened its
doors in 1709, while the new one, which houses Juan Diego’s
cloak, was completed in 1976. The complex is the most popular
Marian shrine in the world and has attracted scores of
pilgrims since the 1500s. It is estimated that 20 million
people visit the shrine every year, with about half of them
coming around Dec. 12, the Virgin of Guadalupe’s feast day.
Many pilgrims arrive the night before the feast day and camp
out on a large plaza outside the basilica. They celebrate
with prayer, music, street food and a marketplace full of
Guadalupe memorabilia.

“There is so much at La Villa de Guadalupe,” said Julia
Young, assistant professor of history at the Catholic
University in Washington, “that you could spend the whole
feast day looking at things and still not see everything.”

Any hour of the day and any time of year, the faithful around
the world also may view live video streams on the new
basilica’s website.

While Mary has long been the patron saint of Mexico, the
church proclaimed her the patroness of the Americas in 1999.
Juan Diego was canonized in 2002, making him the first
Amerindian Catholic saint. Today people across Latin America
– not only Mexicans – venerate Our Lady of Guadalupe. That
includes many Latin American immigrants in the United States.

“For our immigrant community, the Virgin of Guadalupe
represents the wait, the hope and the motives to continue
living and fighting in this world,” wrote Father José
Eugenio Hoyos, director of the diocesan Spanish Apostolate.
Father Hoyos was born and raised in Colombia.

Several churches in the diocese, including All Saints in
Manassas and St. Matthew in Spotsylvania, will celebrate
Masses and hold fiestas in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe
Dec. 12.

Our Lady of Guadalupe even has a place in secular society,
representing the hopes of the oppressed in a broader sense.

“As early as the 17th century, the Virgin of Guadalupe was
being used as a symbol of Mexican identity, not just
religious but politically,” Young said. “People wore her
image on their banners going into war.”

Young said, “Our Lady of Guadalupe’s story represents a kind
of fusion of indigenous and Spanish Christian culture. It is
one of the oldest venerations in the Americas.”

As a reminder of her eternal love, Father Hoyos recalled the
words that Our Lady of Guadalupe spoke to Juan Diego: “‘Am I
not here, I who have the honor of being your Holy Mother? Are
you not standing in my shadow, under my protection? Am I not
the source of your joy? Are you not at my bosom, in the crux
of my arms? What greater joy might you seek?”

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