The Religious Mexican Icon - Virgin of Gaudalupe

August 27, 2014

Perhaps one of the most widely recognized and honored figures of Mexican religious mythology is the Virgin of Guadelupe. The Virgin of Guadalupe, also known as Our Lady of Guadalupe , is a title of the Virgin Mary associated with a celebrated pictorial image housed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in México City. Tradition says that in 1531 the Virgin Mary appeared before a peasant named Juan Diego on Tepeyac, a hill to the north of Mexico City, and told him that she wished to have a church built there. When the bishop of Mexico asked Juan for proof of what he had seen, the Virgin appeared again to the peasant and instructed him to gather roses in his cloak and take them to the bishop. Juan unfolded the cloak before the bishop, and a miraculous image of the Virgin could be seen where the roses had been.

Another tradition associated with the Virgin of Guadelupe says that a shrine to Tonántzin, an Aztec corn goddess, once stood at Tepeyac and that the Virgin replaced Tonántzin as the goddess mother of the Mexican people. However, there is no clear evidence of pre-Christian worship at that site.

The Mexican people have long regarded the Virgin of Guadelupe as a sign of divine favor. They have credited her with ending an epidemic of disease in the 1700s and later with inspiring movements toward independence and liberation. Mexicans of all regions and all racial backgrounds are united in their devotion to the Virgin as an emblem of both religious faith and national pride.

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