Roses in winter

Our Lady of Guadalupe is Mexico's patron saint. All the country's dioceses take turns during the year in celebrating a mass in her Basilica on the 12th of each month, as well as on her main solemnities.

The main feasts of Our Lady of Guadalupe are on

• October 12, commemorating her solemn coronation, and
• December 12, the anniversary of her apparition in 1531.

The number of pilgrims from all over the world is impressive: the shrine receives 14 million visitors a year!

The story of Our Lady of Guadalupe began on Tepeyac Hill, just north of Mexico City, on December 9, 1531. On that day, a young lady "dazzling with light" appeared to a native man named Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. She revealed to him that she was the Virgin Mary, and instructed him to ask the bishop to build a church on the site of the apparition.

The bishop was at first incredulous. He requested a sign from the visionary. Mary was quick to grant it. On December 12, she appeared to Juan Diego for the fourth and last time, sending him to pick roses at the top of the hill. He came back down, his coat (tilma) filled with the most beautiful roses he'd ever seen, miraculously flowering in the dead of winter!

At the Virgin's behest, Juan Diego returned to the bishop's house. He opened his cloak in front of those gathered around the prelate. To the amazement of all present, an image of "the ever-virgin Mary of Guadalupe" as she called herself, was miraculously imprinted on his tilma (coat).

Our Lady of Guadalupe was declared Patroness of the Americas and Star of Evangelization by Pope Saint John Paul II.

The Mary of Nazareth team

Marian Encyclopedia