In the year of our Redemption fifteen hundred and thirty-one, the Virgin Mother of God presented herself, as it has been handed down by a long- standing and constant tradition, to the eyes of a pious and simple neophyte on the hill of Tepeyac in Mexico ; and, addressing him most affectionately, bade him go to the bishop and say that on that spot a temple should be erected to her. The local prelate, Juan deZumarraga, deferred his answer, being resolved to search diligently into the truth of the affkir ; but as the neophyte, through a second apparition and command of the Most Blessed Virgin, renewed his embassy with tears and supplications, he ordered him to go and earnestly ask a sign by which might be attested the wish of the great Mother of God. As the neophyte had to go in to Mexico to call a priest, so that his uncle who was dangerously sick might not be deprived of the last Sacraments, he took the path farthest from the hill of Tepeyac ; but the most benign Virgin, now for the third time, came forth to meet him, and, in his sadness, assured him of his uncle's recovery. Then, arranging in his cloak most beautiful roses, which, in spite of the sterility of the place and the rigor of Winter, had just burst into bloom, she bade him take them to the bishop. Diego obeyed ; and when the roses fell to the ground in the presence of the bishop, there was seen marvellously painted on the cloak the picture of Holy Mary, exactly as she had appeared on the hill near the city. Profoundly moved at the sight of so great a wonder, the inhabitants of Mexico took care that the sacred picture was reverently guarded in the episcopal chapel. Soon after it was transferred with solemn pomp to a temple built for it on the hill of Tepeyac, and its renown spread because of the singular veneration with which all the people honored it. Taken from Our Lady of America :
liturgically known as Holy
Mary of Guadalupe (1897) Author: George Lee
