2. Our Lady of Guadalupe The Events  Who: Juan Diego & Mary  What: Miraculous image of Mary  When: December 1531  Where: Mexico – though some say Spain  Why: To make believers of the people  How: Through the Holy Spirit

3. The Story Juan Diego was swimming against the tide. He was Catholic, and one of only a few. He was a poor man and was taking care of his dying uncle, minding his own business... when low and behold, the Blessed Virgin Mary appeared to him! She told him that she wanted a Church to be built and he was to tell the Bishop. Easy mission right? Not when the Bishop won’t believe you, and wants proof that you’re seeing apparitions from Heaven.

4. The Story Continued Juan’s uncle suddenly got more ill, and while Juan was rushing to get a doctor he purposefully avoided the hill where Mary appeared to him. She appeared regardless and told him his uncle would be cured. Mary also miraculously showed him where to pick roses (even though it was December) to take to the Bishop. Juan followed her instructions, and when he opened his cloak (Tilma) to show the Bishop the roses there was a beautiful picture of Our Lady on the inside, just as she had appeared to him. The Bishop was stunned at this miracle and had the church built.

5. What is a Tilma? The tilma is a poor quality cactus-cloth, which should have deteriorated in 20 years but shows no sign of decay 470 years later and still defies all scientific explanations of its origin.

6. The Image Artists note that the proportions of the woman are perfect for a maiden in her early teenage years, that the figure (Mary) is pregnant with child, her hands are folded in prayer as a sign of holiness and piety, and that her knee is bent as a sign of penitence and honor to God. The stars were worshiped as gods by the native people. Wrapped around the woman, it shows that they are not gods, but are part of the creation of whom the woman is reverently bowing. A 1983 study concluded that the stars on the Lady’s mantle in the image are exactly as the stars of the winter solstice before dawn on the morning of December 12, 1531.

7. The True Proof  The colors have been compared and tests have shown that the flower like tints and abundant gold colors 'cannot be duplicated.'  Tests have revealed that there are NO brush strokes and that the image could not be the work of a painter.  In 1962, Dr. Charles Wahlig, O.D. announced the finding of 'two images' reflected in the eyes of the Virgin while studying an enlargement (25 times the size) of the original tilma  In 1979, Dr. Jose Aste Tonsmann enlarged an image of the Virgin's eyes by 2500x and claimed to have found not only the aforementioned single figure, but images of all the witnesses present when the tilma was first revealed in 1531, plus a small family group of mother, father, and a group of children, in the center of the Virgin's eyes, fourteen people in all

8. Further Evidence:  Yearly, an estimated 10 million visit her Basilica, making her Mexico City home the most popular Marian shrine in the world, and the most visited Catholic church in the world next to the Vatican. In 2009, between Dec. 11-12, a record 6.1 million visited.  In 1921, a bomb (hidden in a vase of flowers) placed beneath the image exploded, causing severe damage to the Church and altar but nothing happened to the tilma nor the case that it was in.

9.  She is the Patroness of the Unborn and The Americas and is constantly used in the Pro-Life movement.  We have a picture of her in our Church next to the statue of Mary.  And… we will be having a celebration for her at the Church on December 12 th ! If you haven’t been, you should go since it is a celebration of a true miracle!