The Virgin of Guadalupe

	The Virgin of Guadalupe is in the Family Way   On Tepeyac Hill, just north of Mexico City, on December 9, 1531, a young woman “dazzling with light” appeared to a native Indian named Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin. She presented herself to him as the Virgin Mary and instructed him to ask his bishop to build a church on the site of the apparition. The bishop was hesitant to believe Juan Diego’s story and asked the visionary to obtain a sign from the Virgin Mary, which she promptly granted. On December 12th, during her fourth and last apparition, the Virgin Mary sent the visionary to pick roses on top of the hill. When he returned, Juan Diego was amazed to find his tilma—or cloak—filled with the most beautiful roses he had ever seen, and this in the middle of winter! At the Virgin's request, he returned to the bishop and opened his cloak before the people gathered around the prelate. Everyone was astonished to see an image of the Virgin, wearing a gold-trimmed cloak, imprinted on the tilma. Proclaimed patroness of the Americas by Pope John Paul II, the Virgin of Guadalupe is now especially invoked by pro-life and pro-family movements, since she is represented expecting a child. The digitization of the image by scientists has even revealed to photographer José Carlos Salinas Chavez the reflection of a family inside her pupils.                                                                                                          The Mary of Nazareth Team