Our Lady of Guadalupe

The Mother who chose to remain at Tepeyac

Our Lady of Guadalupe is one of the best-loved Marian devotions in the entire Catholic world. In December 1531 the Virgin Mary appeared to Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin on the hill of Tepeyac, near present-day Mexico City, and asked that a sacred house be built there where she could show her love, compassion, help and protection.

Klíčová fakta

Central message: Mary presents herself as a compassionate Mother who hears the weeping, sorrows and griefs of her children and leads them to God.

What is the Nican Mopohua?

The Nican Mopohua is the classic account of the apparitions of Holy Mary of Guadalupe to Saint Juan Diego. Its title is made up of the first two words of the text in the Nahuatl language and may be translated as «Here it is recounted.» Tradition attributes it to the indigenous scholar Antonio Valeriano (16th century), and it was published by Luis Lasso de la Vega in 1649 within the Huei tlamahuiçoltica. It is written with the poetic delicacy of Nahuatl: flowers, songs, the tenderness of a mother.

The ancient text is in the public domain; modern translations may be under copyright. That is why here we offer a faithful summary with brief quotations, and a link to the full text on the website of the Basilica of Holy Mary of Guadalupe.

History of the apparitions

First apparition: Mary calls Juan Diego

On Saturday 9 December 1531, very early in the morning, Juan Diego was passing by the hill of Tepeyac on his way to catechism when he heard a beautiful singing, as of many birds. At the top of the hill he saw a Lady surrounded by light, who called him tenderly by his name.

The Virgin’s request

The Lady revealed to him who she was and asked that a «little sacred house» (a temple) be built there, where she could show and give her love, her compassion, her help and her protection to all the inhabitants of this land.

Juan Diego before the bishop

Juan Diego went to the house of the bishop of Mexico, Friar Juan de Zumárraga, and told him what he had seen and heard. The bishop listened to him kindly, but did not believe him: he asked him to come back another day.

Second apparition: the humility of Juan Diego

Juan Diego returned to Tepeyac saddened and begged the Virgin to send someone more important, «known, respected and esteemed,» because he was a small man, «a cord, a little ladder of boards.» The Virgin, with sweetness, confirmed that she had chosen precisely him, and that it was necessary that he himself should carry out her request.

The sign asked for by the bishop

On the second visit, the bishop asked for a sign. The Virgin promised to give it to him the next day. But on that day Juan Diego did not come: his uncle Juan Bernardino had fallen gravely ill, and on Tuesday 12 December he set out at dawn to find a priest, going around the hill so as not to meet the Lady.

The words of consolation

The Virgin came out to meet him and, on learning of his anguish, addressed to him the most remembered words of the whole account, which for centuries have consoled the people of God:

And she assured him that his uncle was already well. The Virgin also appeared to Juan Bernardino, healed him, and made known to him that her precious image should be called Holy Mary of Guadalupe.

The sign of the roses

The Lady told Juan Diego to climb to the summit of the hill and cut the flowers he would find there. Although it was December and that spot yielded only thorns and prickly pears, Juan Diego found fresh, fragrant Castilian roses. He carried them in his tilma. The Virgin arranged them with her own hands and told him that this was the sign for the bishop.

The image on the tilma

Before the bishop, Juan Diego unfolded his tilma. The roses fell and, in the weave of maguey fibre, the image of the Virgin appeared imprinted just as she is venerated today: the Lady clothed in the sun, in an attitude of prayer, with a mestiza face and lowered eyes full of tenderness. The bishop, deeply moved, asked forgiveness and took the image first to his oratory and afterwards to the church.

The beginning of Guadalupan devotion

Soon the first chapel was raised at Tepeyac, and devotion spread throughout Mexico and all of America. Today the Basilica of Guadalupe is one of the most visited Marian shrines in the world. Saint Juan Diego was canonized by Saint John Paul II in 2002, and the Virgin of Guadalupe is venerated as Patroness of Mexico, Empress of America and Star of the first and of the new evangelization.

The Virgin Mary’s conversation with Saint Juan Diego

The Nican Mopohua preserves a dialogue of unique delicacy. We summarize its essential moments, with brief quotations:

The complete text, in its various translations, can be read on the website of the Insigne and National Basilica of Holy Mary of Guadalupe.

The spiritual message of Guadalupe

The Guadalupan event still speaks to us today with simplicity:

📿 Mary draws near to the little ones. She did not choose a palace, but a hill; not a powerful man, but a humble, newly baptized native.
🗣️ Mary speaks in the language of the people. She spoke to him in Nahuatl, with its flowers and its songs, and left her image with a mestiza face: a Mother who makes herself understood.
🙇 Mary does not despise humility. When Juan Diego feels he is a «little ladder of boards,» she confirms it: I have chosen you.
🏠 Mary asks for a house in which to listen and console — a place to show love, compassion, help and protection.
✝️ Mary leads to Christ and to the true God. She presents herself as Mother of the God through whom one lives: she never keeps anything for herself, she always leads to her Son.
🧵 The tilma is a sign of maternal closeness: the Mother chose to remain imprinted on the poor mantle of one of her little children.

Prayer to Our Lady of Guadalupe

Pray also the Mariánské modlitby and prepare her feast (12 December) with devotion throughout Advent.