History of Miracle Sites Guadalupe Mexico Part 2

About Guadalupe, Mexico, history and location of the site of the miraculous appearances of the Virgin Mary.

MIRACLE SITES

Guadalupe

It was near sunset when Juan arrived, and the Virgin Mary was waiting for him. Juan related what the Franciscan bishop, Don Fray Juan de Zumarraga, had demanded, and she told him to return the next morning and she would give him a sign.

But that night Juan's uncle suddenly became ill with a contagious and deadly fever, and he broke his appointment with the Virgin Mary to nurse him. Tuesday before daybreak, Juan Bernardino took a turn for the worse, and Juan hastened to Tlaltelolco to seek a priest to give the older man the Last Rites. He did not take his usual route in order to avoid the Virgin Mary, should she be waiting for him. His wile, however, didn't work.

The Virgin was waiting for him on the road at the bottom of the hill. Insisting she was aiding him by providing proof of her presence, she directed Juan up the previously barren hill to a large patch of heavily perfumed flowers and told him to gather them for her.

Juan filled his rough woolen mantle and presented it to the Virgin. She rearranged the flowers within the mantle and tied it to Juan's neck, admonishing him not to open it until he was in the bishop's presence. When he arrived before the bishop, Juan opened the mantle and the flowers tumbled out. On the mantle itself, a slowly developing life-size picture of the Virgin Mary appeared. She was standing in a quarter moon, one of the symbols of Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec plumed serpent, but most astounding were her eyes, which reflected what her image saw.

During Juan's mission, the Virgin Mary appeared to his uncle and cured him completely. She requested him to tell the bishop that she should be called the Sainted Virgin Mary of Coatlaxopeuh and also told him of the image on Juan Diego's mantle. The uncle, therefore, was aware of the image before his nephew, who, until it emerged, had believed the flowers were the Virgin's token.

The bishop misunderstood the uncle's message and thought the Virgin had said the Sainted Virgin Mary of Guadalupe, and so the name remained.

Juan Diego devoted the last 17 years of his life to the Mother of God, patroness of the Americas, in a hermitage beside the little chapel on Tepeyac Hill. There he died in 1548.

Recent Miracles: The interior walls of the old basilica, where the mantle is on public view above the main altar, attest by means of little metal arms, legs, crutches, etc., to the devotions of the faithful for favors received. However Guadalupe is not known as a site for miraculous cures. Rather, it is a source of spiritual solace and contemplation.

Getting There Today: A new shrine was dedicated Oct. 13, 1976. The older basilica, now structurally inadequate for religious services, will become a museum. Officials estimate that more than 6 million visit the shrine annually.

Guadalupe, being a suburb of Mexico City, is easily accessible by bus or car.

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