| Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe |
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"In December 1531, an indigenous Christian convert named Juan Diego stood
on Cerro del Tepeyac (Tepeyac Hill), site of an old Aztec shrine, and beheld a beautiful lady dressed in a blue mantle trimmed
with gold. She sent him to tell the bishop, Juan de Zumárraga, that he had seen the Virgin Mary, and that she wanted a shrine
built in her honor. But the bishop didn't believe him. Returning to the hill, Juan Diego had the vision several more times.
After the lady's fourth appearance, her image was miraculously emblazoned on his cloak, causing the church to finally accept
his story.
Two centuries later she was named celestial patron of Latin America and empress
of the Americas, and in 2002 Juan Diego was canonized by Pope John Paul II. Today the Virgin's image is seen throughout the
country, and her shrines around the Cerro del Tepeyac are the most revered in Mexico, attracting thousands of pilgrims daily
and hundreds of thousands on the days leading up to her feast day, December 12".
The image of Virgen Guadalupe was so majestic! To think she appeared in 1531 to Juan
Diego and we were standing in the same place!
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/mexico-city/sights/376013
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| Basílica De Nuestra Señora De Guadalupe |
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Basílica De Nuestra Señora De Guadalupe was built on the sight where Juan
Diego had his vision. And, there are "stairs behind the Antigua (old) Basílica, you climb about 100m to the hilltop
Capilla del Cerrito (Hill Chapel), where Juan Diego had his vision, then lead down the east side of the hill to the Parque
de la Ofrenda, with gardens and waterfalls around a sculpted scene of the apparition.
Continue on down to the baroque Templo del Pocito, a circular structure with
a trio of tiled cupolas, built in 1787 to commemorate the miraculous appearance of a spring where the Virgin of Guadalupe
had stood. From there the route leads back to the main plaza, re-entering it beside the 17th-century Capilla de Indios (Chapel
of Indians)."
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/mexico-city/sights/376013
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| Modern Basílica De Nuestra Señora De Guadalupe |
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"In the 1970's the old yellow-domed basilica, built around 1700, was
swamped by worshipers, so the new Basílica de Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe was built next door. Designed by Pedro Ramírez Vázquez,
it's a vast, round, open-plan structure with a capacity for over 40,000 people.
The image of the Virgin hangs above and behind the main altar, with moving
walkways to bring visitors as close as possible."
We must of rode the moving walkway three times to view the Virgin image. It was a very quiet
and somber moment.
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/mexico/mexico-city/sights/376013
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"According to the first formal investigation
by the Church about the events, the Informaciones Guadalupanas of 1666, Juan Diego seems to have been a very devoted,
religious man, even before his conversion. He was a solitary, mystical character, prone to spells of silence and frequent
penance and used to walk from his village to Tenochtitlan, 14 miles away, to receive instruction on the doctrine.
During one of this walks to Tenochtitlan, which used to take about three
and a half hours between villages and mountains, the First apparition occurred, in a place that is now known as the "Capilla
del Cerrito", where the Blessed Virgin Mary talked to him in his language, Nahuatl. She called him "Juanito,
Juan Dieguito" , "the most humble of my sons", "my son the least", "my little dear".
http://www.sancta.org/juandiego.html
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