Our Lady of Ocotlán

The Virgin of the spring

In Tlaxcala, the Virgin of Ocotlán indicated, according to tradition, a healing spring in the midst of an epidemic. His image appeared in the trunk of an ocote, a tree that gives name to the advocation.

Origin and history

The devotion dates back to the 16th century. According to tradition, in 1541 the Virgin appeared to the indigenous Juan Diego Bernardino in a forest of ocotes near Tlaxcala, and indicated a spring whose waters would heal the sick of an epidemic. A carved image of the Virgin was later found in the trunk of an ocote, which was placed in a hermitage and then in the sanctuary.

Over the centuries the fame of the Virgin of Ocotlán was extended with numerous accounts of cures linked to the "Water of Ocotlán." The sanctuary was raised to the lower basilica and, in 1906, received the canonical coronation. Today the sanctuary and its spring continue to receive pilgrims.