Our Lady of Guadalupe is celebrated as patroness of the Americas; her feast day is Dec. 12

Intermountain Catholic

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During his pilgirmage to Mexico in October, Bishop John C. Wester (center) visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, where the Virgin appeared to Saint Juan Diego, who is depicted in the painting behind the altar

SALT LAKE CITY – In 1531 a "Lady from Heaven" appeared to a humble Native American at Tepeyac, a hill northwest of what is now Mexico City. She identified herself as the ever virgin Holy Mary, Mother of the True God for whom we live, of the Creator of all things, Lord of heaven and the earth.

Now, hundreds of years later, Catholics commemorate that appearance as the Virgin de Guadalupe’s birthday on Dec. 12.

"This is a very beautiful way to show our love and honor our mother through Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe; it is at the same time a very beautiful Hispanic tradition," said Marylin Acosta from the Hispanic Ministry of the Catholic Diocese of Salt Lake City.

After the Virgin appeared to Juan Diego at Tepeyac, she requested that a church be built on the site. Juan Diego – who was canonized in 2002 – submitted her wish to the local bishop, but the bishop hesitated, and requested a sign. The Mother of God responded without delay or question; she sent her native messenger to the top of the hill in mid-December to gather an assortment of roses for the Bishop.

After complying to the bishop’s request for a sign, she also left an image of herself imprinted miraculously on Saint Juan Diego’s tilma, a cactus-cloth cloak, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 478 years later. The tilma defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

"What happened that day at the Tepeyac was plain and simple a miracle," said Georgina Viñas, a parishioner at the Cathedral of the Madeleine. "She is our Holy Mother and we need to honor her."

The Virgin’s message of love and compassion, and her universal promise of help and protection to all mankind, as well as the story of the apparitions, are described in the "Nican Mopohua," a 16th-century document written in the native Nahuatl language.

An incredible list of miracles, cures and interventions are attributed to her. Each year, about 18 million pilgrims visit the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in Mexico City, making it Christianity’s most visited sanctuary after the Vatican.

Altogether, 25 popes have officially honored Our Lady of Guadalupe. His Holiness John Paul II visited her sanctuary four times: on his first apostolic trip outside Rome as Pope in 1979, and again in 1990, 1999 and 2002.

In 1999, Pope John Paul II, in his homily from the Solemn Mass at the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe, during his third visit to the sanctuary, declared the date of Dec. 12 as a Liturgical Holy Day for the whole American continent.

During the same visit Pope John Paul II entrusted the cause of life to her loving protection, and placed under her motherly care the innocent lives of children, especially those who are in danger of not being born.

"We need to celebrate and honor our mother," said Felipe Contreras, also a Cathedral of the Madeleine parishioner. "She has been with me and guiding me and my family through this journey of life."