Travel & Pilgrimages 13 Unveiling the image’s
hidden meaning
Black ribbon — The black ribbon around Mary’s waist shows that she is expecting a child. For the Aztecs, the trapezoidshaped ends of the ribbon also represented the end of one cycle and the birth of a new era.
Clouds — In the image, the Virgin is surrounded by clouds, showing that she is from heaven. The indigenous greeted people they believed came from God with the expression: “Among fog and among clouds.”
Flowers — Nine golden flowers, symbolizing life and truth, adorn Mary’s dress. The flowers are made up of glyphs representing a hill and a river. The indigenous people considered hills the highest points of encounter between God and people. Viewed upside down, the flowers take the shape of hearts with arteries coming out, representing life, which originates from God.
Sun — There are three suns represented in the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. The first sun, not visible in the image, is cosmic, casting light on the Virgin’s left side and creating a shadow. Golden rays from the second sun, behind her, signify that she is the “Mother of Light” and greater than the Aztec sun god, whom she eclipses. The third sun is represented by the fourpetaled flower on her tunic, indicating that she is about to give birth to the “Almighty Sun.”
Four-petaled jasmine — The only four-petaled flower on Mary’s tunic appears over her womb. The four-petaled jasmine represents the Aztecs’ highest deity, Ometéotl. While Ometéotl remained distant, the image of Our Lady of Guadalupe shows that the one true God chose to be born of a woman, making himself accessible to all.
Cross medallion — Around her neck, Mary wears a gold medallion engraved with a cross. For indigenous people, the medallion symbolized consecration, so the medallion around Mary’s neck meant that she was consecrated to Jesus.
Hands — The indigenous people expressed prayer not only by the hands, but by the whole body. In the image on the tilma, Our Lady of Guadalupe is shown in a position of dancing prayer, with her knee bent in movement.
Mantle and tunic — Mary’s rosetinted, flowery tunic symbolizes the earth, while her turquoise, starry mantle represents the heavens. The mantle also indicates that she is royalty since only the native emperors wore cloaks of that color.
“A great sign appeared in the sky, a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars. She was with child . . . .” — Revelation 12:1-2 The four-and-a-half-foot-tall image of Our Lady of Guadalupe imprinted on Juan Diego’s cloak in 1531 depicts a young pregnant woman encircled by rays of sunlight. With her dark complexion and mixture of indigenous and Spanish features, Our Lady of Guadalupe represents the unity of all people. She gazes downward with the tender, loving expression of a mother gazing at her child. For Mexico’s indigenous people, the image contained rich symbolism. Sources: Official website of the Basílica de Santa María de Guadalupe in Mexico City, Mexico (WWW.VIRGENDEGUADALUPE .ORG.MX); Secrets of the Image website, Knights of Columbus (WWW.SECRETSOFTHEIMAGE.ORG/EN/INDEX.HTML).
Moon — The Virgin stands on a crescent moon. The Aztec word for Mexico, “Metz-xic-co,” means “in the center of the moon.” The moon also symbolizes the Aztec moon god, fertility, birth and life.
Angel — An angel with eagle’s wings appears below Mary’s feet. According to Aztec belief, an eagle delivered the hearts and the blood of sacrificial victims to the gods. The angel holds up the pregnant Virgin, signifying that the child in her womb is the offering that pleases God.
Story of a miracle: Our Lady appears to St. Juan Diego By Julie Carroll The Catholic Spirit
After the Spanish conquest of Mexico in the 16th century, Franciscan missionaries seeking to convert the Aztecs to Christianity destroyed their temples and idols. The missionaries claimed they were acting in the interest of the people’s spiritual wellbeing, but the death of their gods left them with a sense of hopelessness. Other Spaniards enslaved the indigenous people, whom they considered less than human. “If God does not provide a remedy from His hand, this land is about to be lost,” Mexico’s first bishop, Franciscan Friar Juan de Zumárraga, wrote in a letter to the king of Spain. On Dec. 9, 1531, Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin, an indigenous Catholic convert, was walking to the city of Tlaltelolco in central Mexico to attend Mass. As he approached a hill called Tepeyac, a rainbow
appeared amidst shimmery white clouds and he heard a woman calling his name. “Her dress shone as the sun, as if vibrating, and the stone where She stood, as if shooting rays,” according to the “Nican Mopohua,” one of the earliest written accounts of the Guadalupe apparitions. “Her splendor was like precious stones, like a jewel, everything that is most beautiful, She was. The ground dazzled with resplendence of the rainbow in the fog. The mesquites and the cacti and all the other plants that usually grow there looked like emeralds, the foliage like turquoises, and their stems and thorns shone like gold.” Speaking in the local language, Nahuatl, the dark-complected woman identified herself as Mary, the Mother of God. She instructed Juan Diego to tell the bishop that she would like a “sacred house” to be built in her honor on the hilltop. The skeptical bishop asked Juan Diego to return with proof that what he was say-
Powerful image
the tilma was first housed, but the tilma, made of a delicate plant fiber, remains remarkably well-preserved to this day. For 116 years the unprotected image was exposed to the elements until 1647, when it was put behind glass. During that time, countless people touched the tilma and burned candles and incense near it. Acid was once spilled on the tilma and a bomb detonated beneath it, but still it has survived. Today it is displayed in Mexico City’s Basilica of St. Mary of Guadalupe, one of the world’s most visited Catholic shrines. Pope John Paul II proclaimed Juan Diego a saint on July 31, 2002. He also declared Our Lady of Guadalupe “Queen of All America.” Her feast day is Dec. 12.
The very fact that the image has lasted nearly 500 years could itself be considered a miracle, according to some experts who have studied the tilma. Over time, humidity and salt buildup eroded the stonework of the church where
Information in this article is derived from “Our Lady of Guadalupe and Saint Juan Diego: The Historical Evidence” by Eduardo Chávez, postulator for the canonization cause of Juan Diego.
ing was true. Again Mary appeared to Juan Diego, asking him to gather some flowers growing on the normally barren hillside. She wrapped the flowers in Juan Diego’s “tilma,” or cloak. When Juan Diego opened his tilma to present the flowers to the bishop, the men were astonished to find the Virgin’s image miraculously imprinted on the fabric. As word of the miracle spread, people flocked to the site to venerate the image, which the Franciscans named after the dark-skinned Virgin of Guadalupe in Extremadura, Spain. Soon thousands of indigenous people sought to be baptized.