Rev. Gus Puleo: Our Lady of Guadalupe a miracle for all to embrace

A poor Indian named Cuauhtlatohuac was baptized and given the name of Juan Diego. This elderly Mexican man was 57 years old and was a simple farmer with no formal education  Born under Aztec rule, he converted to Catholicism. The morning in December of 1531 was quiet, but suddenly there was strange music that later Juan Diego would describe as birds singing beautifully. Juan Diego had just encountered the Virgin Mary on Tepeyac Hill, the site of an Aztec temple. His wife had died two years earlier and he lived with his older uncle.  She appears as a native princess to him and her words sound more beautiful than the sweetest music ever heard.

Juan Diego was on his way to Mass on this day, December 9, 1531, when he heard the strange music. Our Lady tries to calm the startled man by telling him who she is — Our Lady, the Mother of God.  She instructs Juan Diego to go to his Bishop and ask that a temple be built on the place of her appearance. This special site will be a place to hear one’s petitions and to heal the suffering of the people. Our Lady tells Juan Diego, “Now go and put forth your best effort.”  After many hours of waiting, Juan Diego, who is visibly shaken, approaches the Bishop who is very skeptical of his account. The Bishop listens to his story and dismisses him. The humble farmer had failed. Juan Diego begins to doubt himself. He returns to Tepeyac where he hopes for some confirmation of the appearance of Our Lady. She does not disappoint him as she appears again. Juan Diego tells Our Lady what she already knows that the Bishop did not believe him. She instructs him to return the next day and ask again. Juan Diego returns and the Bishop is very confused.  At this second meeting, the Bishop asks for a sign. Juan Diego answers that he will return the next morning with a sign from the Lady.

That evening, Juan Diego goes home and finds his uncle, Juan Bernardino, who is 68 years old, very ill. Juan Diego cannot leave the bedside of his uncle since he is so ill. Juan Diego spends two days with his uncle trying to save him. When it is apparent that his uncle is going to die, Juan Diego runs to find a priest to prepare him for death. In his travels to find a priest Juan Diego, who is panicking and very upset, again encounters the Lady who asks him, “Am I not your mother?” Emboldened by Our Lady’s presence Juan Diego asks for a sign he promised for the Bishop. He knows that the bishop doubts the facts of her appearance. So, Juan Diego is instructed to climb to the top of Tepeyac Hill where he will find flowers.  He is to pick the flowers there, which are unlike any he had ever seen before, and he is to keep them hidden in his tilma until he sees the Bishop. Even though it is winter, there are a great number of unique roses blooming on the summit of this hill. Juan Diego hastily picks the roses and gathers them into his cloak.

For the third time, Juan Diego goes to see the Bishop. The skeptical bishop has waited two days for the sign of Our Lady. Juan Diego opens his tilma allowing the roses to fall to the floor. However, more than the roses the two men are surprised to see what was painted on his humble tilma but an extraordinary image of Our Lady.  She appears as a native princess with dark skin and high cheekbones. Her head is bowed in reverence to God and her hands are folded in prayer. On her cloak, the stars are arranged as they appeared in the morning darkness at the hour of her first apparition. Under her feet is a great crescent moon, a symbol of the old Aztec religion. The message is very clear. She is more powerful than the Aztec gods, she is not God, but the mother of God and all of us.

At the same time, Our Lady appears to Juan Diego and directs him to cut the flowers on Tepeyac Hill, she also appears to his uncle, Juan Bernardino, who is about to die.  As soon as she appears, the fever stops and Juan Bernardino is well again.  Our Lady of Guadalupe tells Juan Bernardino that she wants to be known as “Santa María de Guadalupe.”

The temple was built and it is the most visited shrine in the world.  Juan Diego’s tilma, woven from cactus fibers with a shelf-life of only 30 years at best, remains miraculously preserved. Some 10 Million Mexicans were converted to Catholicism during the 10 years after the apparition in 1531.  Millions of pilgrims over the next five centuries continued to see the miraculous tilma to honor Our Lady of Guadalupe.

On October 12, 1945, Pope Pius XII decreed that Our Lady of Guadalupe be “Patroness of all of the Americas.”  Her feast day is December 12th.  Great miracles continue to occur even today.  Her words to Juan Diego and to us are:  “I will give all my love, my compassion, my help and my protection to the people.  I am your merciful mother, the merciful mother of all of you who live united in this land and of all mankind.  Here on Tepeyac Hill, I will hear your sorrow and I will remedy and alleviate all of your multiple sufferings, necessities and misfortunes.” Our Lady of Guadalupe, pray for us.

The Rev. Gus Puleo serves as director of the English as a Second Language (ESL) program and the Spanish Department at St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in Philadelphia, where he also teaches English and Spanish. He is a graduate of Norristown High School and attended Georgetown University, where he received B.A. and B.S. in Spanish and linguistics. He has master’s degrees in Spanish, linguistics and divinity from Middlebury College, Georgetown University and St. Charles Borromeo Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in Spanish from the University of Pennsylvania. He is the former pastor of St. Patrick Church in Norristown.